A young girl, with straight brown bobbed-cut hair, in boy jeans, and awkward in her own constitution, drew a picture of a crane and entered it in a school contest. The following week, her drawing was returned to her with a blue ribbon displaying the words, “first place” attached to it. Years passed and many drawings were created to pass the time and recollect fantastical ruminations. Oftentimes, drawings were executed on the den floor, while lying on her stomach on the wool-woven rug under the warm Nevada sun glinting through the south-facing window in her Pleasant Valley home. A simple yellow number 2 pencil in hand, burdened with chew marks from intense concentration, left purposeful graphite marks on blank sheets of paper. These drawings revealed the little girl’s inner self, wants, fears, and desires. It was just the beginning…
A reserved person, calm in nature, I don’t express myself very overtly. I express myself through the art that I create. It is here that you can see where I stand at that given moment. In the beginning, up until I was 18 years old, my drawings consisted of mostly copied comic strip characters or political caricatures that I found fun and entertaining. Garfield was my favorite character and I had that cat down to a “t”. It wasn’t until I was about to complete my time in the Air Force and I hadn’t a clue to what I was going to do with my life that my father sent me a copy of a newspaper clipping with an ad (similar to the one below) for San Jose State University’s new school of graphic design had I ventured into thinking about doing something art-related as a career.
I began school at DeAnza Community College in Cupertino, California, taking many art classes as core classes for the graphic design degree. I was exposed to painting, scratchboard, life drawing, sculpture, and so many new mediums I had never thought of trying before. It further broadened the means by which I could express my innermost feelings and thoughts.
I met talented people with whom I became and remained good friends until this day, Carl Vanfossen and Paul Mellender. I’ve found many talented more online as well that inspire me – @masha_shango and @Rodion__Vlasov, to name a couple.
One of my favorite projects entailed scratchboard. I based it off of a picture of a lovely woman in a magazine. Her expression embodied the state in which I hope to reach one day. One that expresses a life well-lived. Her lovely face exposes a roadmap of life’s many trials, yet she rises to glory, victorious in her disposition, and gracefully gifts the world with her expressions of joy, peace, and satisfaction.
This sketch, on the other hand, expresses darkness and fear – unexpected. And if you are one to believe in the paranormal, which I am, it is not a situation most look forward to experiencing but sometimes welcome.
With art, came self-discovery, and with this came acceptance of who I am – that I am as complex as my body of work. My one thousand colors make up me. It has taken half a century to accept me wholeheartedly for I am special. We all are – in all our different glorious ways.
Express yourself in any way that brings you joy and relief and share it with the world. You don’t owe it to anyone but yourself.
Follow or connect with me! Let me know what you think about the article or share your art! Happy graphics, my friends!
Nancy Mues 