Blog post #1

I never wanted to be an artist

Blog 1

I never wanted to be an “Artist”. Not in the “cut your ear, starve for the passion, hang out with the elite” cliche of an artist. I discovered pretty early on that illustration was my thing. I grew up mostly on farms and ranches in Iowa. My family was middle class and my world revolved around chores on a 20 acre ranch where our home was built. We raised horses, beef, sheep, and multiple species of indigenous game birds trying to repopulate the area. The isolation of the ranch made the animals my best friends and to this day my life is still shaped by animals. I didn’t demonstrate any special talent or interest in art. I started college in a journalism program but for whatever reason was offered an extension class of drawing at a nearby woman’s collage. It turned out to be a life drawing class and that was it. I never looked back. I wasn’t looking for a calling. I was looking for a trade.