The Artist in Me

  As I visited with friends, I was reminded in my mind how as a child and young teenager, I was very much into art. Trips to the art museums were my favorite field trips. My absolute favorite time in elementary school was when we had art class. It was always important for me to make whatever we were creating look EXACTLY like the one the art teacher had as an example. My circles had to be perfectly round, edges cut neatly and straight, everything had to be proportional and centered correctly. And my absolute pet peeve...yes, I had one as an adolescent...was excess glue. I could not stand, or understand, when other students would put so much Elmers glue on their small cut out piece of construction paper (e.g. a circle for an eyeball or something like that) and then have the glue oozing from beneath it. Could they not see, or understand, that they only needed a small drop of glue which you could then spread thinly on the back of that piece and place it. And they didn't even have to use their fingers to spread the glue, a simple scrap piece of construction paper worked perfectly for that job, thus leaving your hands and fingers clean so as to not  mess up your beautiful piece of artwork with nasty glue fingers. That's right, I did think about these things as a child. These were the early signs of my OCDism. Those who know me should understand. I digress.
   Now on to junior high. I would draw draw draw. I would spend hours upon hours in my room sketching. Mom worked at a place where she could get free spiral bound paper and she would bring some home to me because I would draw in them like crazy. I would even create huge poster sized drawing of my favorite musical artist and put them on my bedroom wall. They didn't make them as large I wanted them in the Right On or Black Beat magazines (remember those?), so I would make them myself. Times weren't always easy for me growing up so this was very much an escape for me.  
Many times I couldn't go to bed if I was "in the zone." I had to...once again...get whatever I was sketching perfectly right before my mind could rest with ease.  As I honed my talent, I was the go to person in my family whenever anything was needed artistic wise. Even at my junior high school, there was me and one other kid whom would get asked to draw things for school events. Sometimes I would just draw things for my friends as gifts. These reflections moved me to pull out some of my old sketches from when I was a kid. Check these out from the 90's:

This was a little character I liked to draw

Practicing my tagging

Drawing from a picture I had seen probably in a magazine

Drawing of one of the members of one of my favorite groups growing up.
I wasn't good at drawing faces on a small scale so I just didn't draw it.

Another drawing from a picture in a magazine. Decided to work on
drawing facial features.

Sketch of a dancer in plie.

Don't judge!! LOL!!

  It was also during my junior high years that I began to have a greater love for the art of music and dance. I played trombone for my 7th and 8th grade year and fell in love with it. I recall how I used to put on my headphones and not just listen to the lyrics of songs, but to the music in the background...the violins, the saxophones, the bass, etc., and how my heart would swell from the beauty of the sound resonating in my ear. My instrument playing didn't make it past 8th grade until recently. I now, as an adult, am playing the guitar. I am reminded, each time I play, just how much music meant to me in my younger days. I'm also reminded of how much easier it would have been learning music as a kid.
   As for dance, that's where most of my artistic passion landed. My mom had me in tap when I was a very little girl. Didn't last long unfortunately. I remember my black patton leather tap shoes were carried in a small red Dominoes Pizza duffle bag. When I stopped going to tap class, I remember periodically grabbing that bag and looking at the tap shoes wanting so much to put them on again. I did this for many many years as a child. The red bag and too small tap shoes eventually went away, but still, I loved dance. In the summer of my 7th grade year, I had the spectacular opportunity to participate in a dance camp provided by the Alvin Ailey Amercan Dance Theater, one  of the greatest dance companies on the earth. It was there that my affection for dance was sealed and I knew it would always be a part of my life no matter what. The ability to create and communicate through movement astounded me. Beautiful danceing would, and still does, absolutely bring me to tears. For me, its ethereal. I wasn't, and still am not, always good at expressing myself verbally, so dancing gave me another outlet to do that. There is something about the art of dance that puts me in a complete different head space. Sometimes blood, sweat, and tears are literally left on the stage. There is nothing like.
  So why did God  give me such a love for the arts? I don't know. I have sometimes found myself torn between which artistic skill I should focus on. But each artistic venture has enriched and continues to enrich my life in ways that nothing else can. There is a spiritual connection during the creative process when it is used for good. I thank the Lord for these gifts, because gifts they truly are.
Peace