Ellie, a high school student, remembers admiring her older sister’s artwork. She could see how her sister loved to paint and how people responded to her work. She wanted to draw and paint too. But, Ellie’s first experience with painting landed her in trouble. She remembers she was seven or eight years old and ran outside to paint on her family’s deck. A rainbow of splotches landed on the deck, about as much as made it to her paper. The family was not pleased. But, despite this not so glowing start, Ellie continued on. She experimented with all kinds of art supplies and surfaces. She started art lessons to learn her craft. Ellie is not caught up in too much in the technical, but understands that she needs the ability to create objects so they “seem like they have life in them”. Paper and canvas are fine, but Ellie sees the walls in her bedroom as her favorite surface so far.
The artist’s journey that began with following her sister is now Ellie’s adventure.
She is discovering her own person, in love with art. As Ellie says today, “Making art became a part of me”.
Portrait of a Girl and Her Art 