This is part two of my personal artistic journey you can read part one here
Suddenly It was hard to breath!
I was looking at Picasso's Weeping Woman. From a distance in a room full of overbearingly large works vying for your attention the small framed painting in the corner had looked rather unassuming, I think that's what initially drew me to her.
At 11 I was already showing signs of depression, I didn't fit in at school and with high school weeks away I felt as broken and fragile as the woman in front of me. I tried to take in every detail, each brush stroke seemed to have a story of it's own and I wanted more than anything to know all of them.
When my Dad came over I couldn't feign boredom anymore my thoughts and questions poured out of my mouth at 100mph, my Dad just smiled and said "There's something I want you to see"
Roy Lichtenstein
We skipped the next few gallery on the way Dad told me about an artist, who painted landscapes the way your supposed to never really getting noticed, until one day the artist's young son said his work was boring. So the artist took inspiration from his son's collection of comic books and was soon a pivotal member of the pop art movement.
We headed into the paid exhibit room, bright colourful works filled the room, my brother and sisters ran straight for the workshop in the next room. Dad and I looked at every painting, talked shared opinions for over an hour before heading into the workshop ourselves. We stayed in the workshop until the gallery closed making slides, drawing on walls and projector film. And I quizzed the artists running the workshop about their work. That night as I was heading to bed my dad stopped me
"You're an artist, you see the world differently don't ever forget it."
I spent the remainder of my summer holiday playing with the art supplies on the list of things needed for high school convinced everything was about to get a lot better.