Mind: Blown Photograph

I started painting when I was about 17 years old, it was wintertime. I had been drawing since I was young, I didn't think much of it but I loved doodling on whatever empty space I had on my school papers, I loved drawing portraits, eyes and realistic human hearts. I never thought that was something I was going to do as I aspired to become a lawyer, but I realised i had talent since I always got good grades in art class and everybody seemed impressed by what I had created. One day I looked outside the window as it was snowing, it was a few days away from Christmas. My family was poor and so was I obviously so I had nothing to give to my family, I had no idea what to do so I asked my mother for 20 dollars and went to a cheap store to get some art materials. I figured I would do the only thing that people seemed to praise me by, art, in order to give my family members Christmas gifts. It was the first time I ever painted with a paintbrush on a canvas. When I sat down to let my creativity flow, I realised how calming painting was for my mind. It filled my heart with happiness just adding colours and seeing my creation come to life. I had been dealing with depression for years and years so whenever I would feel down I would start picking up a paintbrush and start painting to cope with my emotions. It was an outlet for me to express myself and I guess I got stuck with escaping in my art. I first started off with small canvases, with portraits, I didn't put too much time on my paintings in the beginning. Eventually, I got bored of the small canvases and decided to put more time into my art, more thought and originality. I wanted to pour my soul and heart into the works I created, share my thoughts and emotions through my creations and have people share those experiences with me through viewing my art. Instead of finishing my art in a week or a few days, I started spending long periods of time where I thoughtfully thought out how my art was going to be when finished and taking time portraiting those ideas onto my canvases. I started buying bigger canvas, learning new techniques, spending months painting until I felt I expressed myself exactly how I intended to. I strive to continue to improve, possibly painting even bigger paintings with even more creativity and originality, maybe even adding unusual materials to my paintings, finding new creative ways to express myself and working with my mind to create unique artworks you don't get to view every day.