It just dawned on me recently how I became an artist: leaky roofs! Let me back up and explain. For most of my life I believed I became an artist because of my DNA. My grandma, grandpa and great grandpa were all artists in their own rights. But many people don’t inherit the artistic gene. I have an older sister. She shares my DNA but is not an artist. What then made me to be interested in visual art in the first place?
Once upon a time there was a young boy. He was left alone at home a lot because his parents were busy making a living. The ancestral home they were living in was in need of repairs. Most notably it had a leaky roof. When it rained hard water would trickle in and collect onto the ceiling and then drift down along the walls. While this may has been an endless source of headache for the adults for this young boy it was a blessing in disguise.
Over the years the moisture created organic patterns on the ceiling and the boy was fascinated by them. He would spend hours staring at the ceiling and imagine animals, people, landscape etc. When he got bored he just pivoted 90 degrees, bang, whole new world! When the boy had access to chalk he would recreate the water mark patterns on the sidewalk in front of his home. Large crowds would sometimes gather to watch this little boy wearing split pants draw on the ground.
So there you have it. When life gives you lemon you make lemonade. When life rains on your leaky roof you use it to launch your career in fine art. Someone once said when unfortunate things happen to you, you can either choose to be bitter or better. I hope we can always choose better.
PS. How I learned to read was because we were too poor to buy wallpaper or wall paint so my parents pasted old newspapers on our walls. I was reading People’s Daily newspapers at age four.
We humans are resilient creatures. Please comment below and share a story about how you took a bad situation and made it better for everyone involved.
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