I enjoy the word vocation. Vocation seems to be a much stronger word than career or profession because a vocation is not simply a means of income but rather something you must do or that you are born to do with your life. Some often refer to a talent as a gift from God, but skill comes to no one quickly; we all work hard to be good at what we do.

The drive to pursue your calling and to constantly refine any skill is in my opinion, a more likely gift from your divine philanthropist. A skill is a physical task, that as human beings, we are generally all capable of performing. However, the motivation to hone any skill and to build your life around it, comes from somewhere inside of us that is truly questionable.

To draw is to scrape charcoal across a piece of paper; a skill that again, can be performed by even a young child. So why as a young child could I not stop drawing? Is there something inside of me that understood my vocation from birth? What was it that motivated me to pursue this skill with every fiber of my being and refine a simple ability into an exceptional talent?

To me, a gift from God is a very simple answer to a complex question and quite frankly, not good enough for me. I believe that there are an infinite number of very specific factors that come together to make us who we are and drive our lives in a seemingly predetermined direction. To answer those questions and understand why I am an artist, I need to examine as many of those factors as I can because I am never truly satisfied with an easy answer. I need to dig deep; into my mind, into my genetics, and into as many child hood experiences as I can to understand what brought me to where I am today.

Growing up with a wonderfully supportive family is one factor that will be examined in great detail throughout this process. Nevertheless, it is mainly due to a loving mother that almost all of my childhood art was maintained. It is because of her that I am able to share this art with you. It is because of her that I am given this opportunity to see where I came from as an artist and what drove me to pursue my talent. This rare body of work will be used to examine these questions in much greater detail, where I hope to find answers, to learn more of who I am, and to outline the very evolution of the artist.