Your cart is currently empty!
Two things have been a constant in my life, no matter the phase I find myself in; my love of animals rules my life, and creating art brings me joy
I can still remember sitting in my room, using the computer paper you had to rip the edges off, to trace the animals in my “Learn to Draw Animals” art book. I would also use VHS covers to trace my favorite Disney characters.
In junior high, I had friends who enjoyed writing letters with cartoons for added enjoyment. Each of us developed our own style, and our characters would adorn the borders of every letter. My high school art teacher was the one who introduced me to acrylic paints and painting on canvas. Her classroom was a safe place in a school where I never quite measured up.
When I graduated high school, it was my love of animals that helped me choose my college. The end goal was to be a zookeeper, but I was also within arm’s reach of an entire arts department, and the class list was always enticing.
With two majors already planned, I only had room for an art minor—or at least that’s what I thought. My freshman year, I took a Drawing 101 class, where I was introduced to gesture drawing and charcoal for the first time. It was also the first time I ever drew live models, and overall, it was exactly what I had expected. It pushed me as an artist, but it didn’t feel unobtainable.
My next go-around of enrolling in an art class would be my downfall. As I searched the list of offered classes, my eyes were drawn to what I thought would be easy credits: Jewelry Making. It was the epitome of my stupidity—I thought the class would be one of beaded necklaces, maybe a chain pendant here or there. What I quickly found out was that I had enrolled in a welding class.
This wasn’t colorful beads and pretty gems; it was cutting, shaping, welding, and cleaning metal. I found out this class specifically had a reputation for being hard and requiring long hours. I probably should have dropped it right then, but my ego told me I could handle it.
Long story short, it almost broke me. Good welds were difficult to achieve, the cleaning-up process was daunting, and my final products were lackluster. The final project ended up being the only project in my college career that had me spending the night locked in the art building, hoping to finish in time. This, I found out, was the norm for this course.
After this experience, I reevaluated whether or not I could continue working towards an art minor. In the end, I decided to put my energy and focus on my Primate major as well as the Anthropology major I had already started. After all, working with animals was the end goal at the time, so I went full force in that direction.
Now that I find myself as a freelance artist, it’s natural to reflect on that time and feel pangs of regret. I strongly believe that it’s never too late, and the decisions I’ve made so far have only served to create the person I am today.
I’ve considered going back to school and getting an art degree; however, in today’s world of online learning, I’ve been fairly successful in teaching myself a lot of new skills. These include filming, video and audio editing, digital art software, Adobe software, and new creative endeavors I never thought possible.
I would LOVE to learn ceramics and how to throw pottery, but that may be an adventure for 2025. I’m grateful for every day I got to spend working with animals over the last 16 years, but I’m even more excited to dive deeper into my own creative journey.
If you are on an art journey of your own, I’d love to hear about difficult decisions you’ve had to make along the way in the comments below. Take care of yourself, and I’ll talk to you soon.
❤ Kelly
Leave a Reply