Hi, I'm Steph...
These things always make me awkward. I'm kind of glad I'm tucked away behind a keyboard presently, as this conversation would actually be filled with a lot of oddly placed giggles, fidgeting and what I can only describe as a "deer in the headlights" sort of look.
I'm really not good at introducing myself. I tend to err on the side of "Hi, I'm Steph *insert weird comment here." Once, after introducing myself to one of my husband's colleagues, I said, "If your hair ever goes missing - it'll be on my head." I was trying desperately to say a brilliant compliment to her downright gorgeous blonde hair, and yet I delivered myself on a silver platter of crazy *face palm*So, here I am in all my awkwardness, trying to write something fluent, precise and eloquent. Am I failing yet?
Let's see.. I suppose this would be a grand place to insert some background information.
I grew up in Telkwa, BC, a small town inhabited by about 700 people and 7000 cows that was nestled in the arms of the majestic Hudson Bay Mountain - my greatest piece of inspiration. At the age of eighteen I moved to Aldergrove BC where I currently reside with my husband and two children ( alas, no Hudson Bay Mountain here :( ).
My husband and I are what you might consider, direct opposites. Where I am artistically inclined, he is mathematically and scientifically inclined. And even though we are such opposites, somehow we have found a way to be complimentary of eachother - sharing our different ways of experiencing the world to get not one, but two different points of view! It's actually really cool - where I see colour and composition, he sees order and wave lengths and other science-y and math-y stuff that I litterally cannot understand, but can appreciate.
I spend my time during the day as a full time home maker. Sure, that title seems pretty out of date, possibly medieval, but I assure you it is not a title that can ever be taken lightly. My days are filled with experiencing life through the bright, curious eyes of my two children. Whether it's doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, each and every activity becomes a new adventure of imagination and discovery of the world around us. Annnnd still, some days are filled with naps, headaches, lucky charms and paw patrol - days where the laundry just doesn't get done and the pizza goes from the freezer to the plate in half an hour.
And once the children are snuggled and story-filled, have had their teeth brushed and their tummies tickled, it's bed time. Or what I like to call - I get to paint without having little hands in my paint or teeth on my brushes - time to mistakenly drink the paint water instead of my mandatory cup of tea - time to spend time with my husband - in the same room, working on different things - time to experience new failures of sketching, new delights of phthalo blue, new designs on wooden peg dolls.
Me time.
Apart from watercolor class where I missed half the classes on account of being sick, and a high-school level art class which actually did improve my shading, I have not been trained professionally. I once took a cake decorating class which was quite fun and delicious but I didn't enjoy having to eat my canvas after hours of work.
I grow in my talent through inspiration.
It's easy to be inspired when you wake up to that >> view each and every morning for eighteen years. But to be honest, inspiration can be found anywhere; from the grandest of mountains, the bright warmth of a setting sun, the tiny veins in a blade of green grass or even the sweet smell of an afternoon rose... if you open your mind to the ultimate beauty of this great world that we are blessed to call home, inspiration can be found anywhere.Any method of art is an imitation of what we see around us. Even the most abstract painting is an imitation of the creativity that was painted all over this earth with God's finger. After God created the world; the light, the land, the sea, the birds, the fish, the stars, the animals and man, He said it was "Very Good." The most beautiful gift that I have been given, is not the ability to paint and sketch, play with colors and fix my mistakes - it's the ability to relate to one tiny aspect of God.
Any artist, whether they study for many years or are just starting out will never achieve the ultimate beauty in their creation that the God of the universe created. Everything on earth works in such beautiful harmony - the lighting, shading, composition, the beauty in chaos in the untended earth of a forest. No matter how many classes you attend, how innately talented you may be, any artist can admit that there is always something that they would or could change in their work of art - none of us can create perfection - we can never achieve "Very Good".
I find it ultimately humbling that I am able to have the blessing of the ability to create, no, to imitate the beauty around me. Though there will always be something I can change in any piece I create, there is always the moment where I look at my work and consider it "good". How amazing to think that I have that small connection with my heavenly Father, the ability to design, create and imagine. That, to me, is worth any piece of art I could ever create or sell, because as I continue to learn, to grow, to experiment, the more I learn about my heavenly Father.
Any questions? Leave them below!
