This story starts about two years ago. I was a freshman in college and I had a problem. It wasn’t a big problem, but it was one I would like to fix. I couldn’t draw, ->-< I couldn’t paint. You could say I had no artistic ability what-so-ever. My older sister on the other hand did wonderful art work. She could create modern master pieces, well maybe not master pieces but they looked pretty cool. My art looked like a 7 year old made it, a talented 7 year old, but a 7 year old none the less. Most people wouldn’t think that it was a problem. I was good at math, science and all the left-brain things; they even bored me a little to be honest. Maybe I wasn’t meant for art. But I saw it as a problem. I wanted to create; I wanted people to wow over my stuff. Not a lot of people wow over math problems, no matter how long they are.
Then I found my solution. I was sitting in class bored one day, doodling on a sheet of paper. Not trying to draw because I had given up. I was just making random geometric shapes, because, after all that was what I was good at. I put a square next to a triangle and a trapezoid on top of that, never a curve, only straight lines. Slowly my random shapes started to take form. I took out a few lines, added a few more and then….I had made a lion! He looked like a retarded lion but it was still a lion. I wanted to jump out of my chair with joy. “I can create, I can draw,” I wanted to scream; “I can be one of the greats.” I could be like Picasso, a cubist artist but different. Picasso took life and added randomness to it. I took randomness and created order.
I didn’t give myself too much credit yet. It might have been a fluke. I might not have any real talent after all. So I set out again. This time I started with a trapezoid, added the square, a few triangles and soon it became a man. I later ended up calling him my working man. I did have it. I did have talent. I became obsessed; anytime I could I would draw random shapes until they became something. My ability to create became better and better. I made a rule I didn’t want my shapes over 5 or 6 angles. I wanted to limit myself in order to make them more interesting. I drew a a shoe, a a butterfly, a man drinking iced coffee which I titled The Globe after my favorite coffee shop. The man looks a little like Homer Simpson but I like him that way.
After a while creating sketches on notebook paper couldn’t sustain me. I wanted more. How could you have an art show full of notebook paper with notes around the drawings? I needed something more, something better. So I decided to paint. I would turn my dull grey sketches into art full of bright vibrant colors. So I got a few canvases and a couple of tubes of paint and started out. I picked Homer to be my first endeavor. I wanted something that people would wow over. But again I came up against a wall. I couldn’t just throw the sketch on the canvas; all the angles had to be just so to recreate it.
So sticking to what I know I made a grid of my sketch and a grid of the canvas in order for me to get it right. Then I sketched my art work on the canvas with pencil. Painted over the lines with black paint and set out to fill it in with bright vibrant colors. It was a mess. The painting looked dull at first. I had to learn how to shade things by looking at things around me. I tried to give my art depth. The first one wasn’t so great. But as I did more and better painting, my coloring got better.
After a while I moved on from taking randomness and turning it into something. You could say I reversed my process. I saw things that I wanted to turn into my art, so I did. I started with simple cartoon drawings I found on the internet; breaking the images down into simple shapes that would stay in my style. Then I started with harder more complex images. The painting of the the drive home was by far the most complex thing I tried to do at that point. I was scared to mess it up so I only worked on it a little at a time and just stared at it most of the time hoping I could make it look like the picture in my head. Then one day I had had enough and I sat down to finish it. It took me six hours of mixing colors and drawing line and then remixing colors to get it right. But when I had finished with it, it was gorgeous. Well in my mind anyway. I knew I had finally done something people would wow over. Finishing the painting gave me confidence to try something even harder. There was one area I had never ventured into before. I didn’t think I could do it.
That was painting people. I couldn’t draw people before; the eyes were never the same or the lips were uneven. Now it didn’t really matter. The whole idea was that things didn’t match. So out I set again with new determination. I took the picture of the person, a guy by the name of Alex I knew, and made him a sketch. Then put the sketch on the canvas and colored him in. He was by far the hardest thing I had to paint. It took many layers of paint to get the shading right on his face and neck. And then all of a sudden there Alex was, sitting in front of me on the canvas. I did, I had drawn a person and you could tell who he was. He didn’t look like a deformed monster from the deep. I was a little said because Alex was in Australia now and wouldn’t be able to see my take on him until he came back.
So what was next? I was able to paint of these interesting pieces of art, but no one could see them. Well besides all of my friends which I drug into my room every time I finished a new one to make them look at it. An art show! That was exactly what I needed! I wanted my work to hang where the whole world could see it, or at least quite a few people. But where would I find an art show? Lucky for me, I knew just the place. It is a little coffee lounge in down town St. Pete called The Globe and every year they have to patron’s art show. I knew that in that little art show I would find my fame and glory, well maybe not but it would be cool. You could enter three pieces, to sell or not to sell. I had more than three pieces, so which three to pick. I picked the one titled The Globe, well because it was about The Globe; Alex because he was my most difficult paint and the third… what should I pick for the third? I really like the the drive home, so much that I didn’t want to sell it, but I was curious to see if anyone would buy my work, so maybe I should include the working man. Back and forth I debated and I finally decided on the drive home. I would not sell any of my work and just let people admire it.
My three pieces were accepted into the art show with enthusiasm by JoEllen, the owner. So many people entered the art show; art was everywhere. The art show lasted a month and towards the end of the show, I was in The Globe one night and JoEllen comes up to me. “How would you feel about selling one of you paintings? A guy has asked me about it the last three times he has been in here. I know you said it isn’t for sell but he really wants it; he even said he would make a nice offer” she said. “What?! Someone wants to buy one of my paintings?!” the little girl in my head screamed and then proceeded to do her happy dance. I had no clue how much to ask for the painting; it was kind of large, a 16’x20’ canvas and I had to buy a frame for it, so maybe $50. I would make $20 off of it, not bad for the first sell. But instead I asked her “How much is the guy willing to pay?” She told me “He doesn’t have a lot of money but him and his wife said they can go as high as $100 or maybe $125.” The little girl in my head went nuts. I tried not to act surprised. I agreed to sell the painting for $100. I had wowed someone, like I wanted. I had met my goal. JoEllen passed the good news onto the guy and a week later we sat up a date for him to buy the painting. He was almost gushing with joy when we met. He told me he drives a lot and he sees that scene everyday on his way home and he just loved my take on it. Also, the first time he saw it, he knew he had to have it in his home. I tried my best not to blush but I never expected a reaction like that out of someone. To see the glow on his face when I handed him the painting was priceless.
It has been about a month since the end of the art show and my other two painting still hang on the walls. JoEllen liked them so much she asked if she could keep Alex until he came back from Australia for it. I agreed and my paintings are still gracing the walls of The Globe for everyone to see. I had really done it. I had wowed people and still am. So where do I go now? I keep painting, I keep getting better. Most of my paintings are gifts for people. My next big adventure is going to be a 16’x20’ painting of Riley, my boyfriend’s daughter. Her 1st birthday is towards the end of the month and I think she will love it when she gets older. I know my boyfriend and his family will love it now. I am just glad that I have found a pass time that I love; I am good at more than just school.
The End.
KevinRb
Original Narrative
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