Am I an artist?

I never spent anytime asking myself that question...I guess...there in lies the answer. I have always loved to draw,but it was only when I had to take an elective in highschool,that I discovered art. That year, Mr. D's artclass, should have changed my life,but it didn't. I made some of the most incredible things that year...dabbled in watercolor,clay,charcoal,pastels,linoleum prints,india ink,figure drawing. I excelled. But I didn't know it...I only enjoyed it. I was known as the messy one in class....a piggy in mud. For our final grade we had to hand in our year long sketchbook..wish I had kept it....Of course, I got an "A". Then it was over.

Why I bothered with all that math,science,english and history.....I never went on to college, I got a job, and when I was 20,married. Life set in and I didn't nourish my creative soul, because I didn't know I had one. That is incredible to me now.

It was when my kids were off on their own and a friend asked me to come to a book review,that I began to feel the stirrings of "something was missing in my life."

The book was Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnache.

It is a book of discovery...and I was ready....don't you always have to be?

Oh, and did I mention, that I always wrote stories and poems..no?...I didn't mention it to myself..I just did it. In 4th grade, I captivated my classmates at lunchhour with my mystery series! I had forgotten that! And most of my adult life I saw people as charcters with stories. Imagine that disconnect!

Anyway, at age 48, I took my first poetry class and drawing class. Slowly I awakenend the beast.

I call it the beast, because within years, it had taken over my life. I couldn't get enough, and I especially loved being in the company of creative women. The journey had begun.

But little did I know what journey it would be.