“Dance With the One Who Brung You”
University of Texas head football coach, Darrell Royal, (1965)

Going Back in Time
I began drawing early, just past the toddler stage, I believe I was only 4 years old. I was compelled to illustrate stuff coming from the inside of my head and anxious to put the idea down on paper, without a question as to why. Looking back now it was easier to see since both my parents were very creative in their own right. My Father was a talented woodworker who could build incredible things with wood like cabinets, furniture with sliding drawers, redid our whole kitchen a few times and even moved walls. He spent most weekends in pursuit of some home improvement project. My Mother, on the other hand, was a talented artist who could draw and paint using anything really as a canvas. I just remember at this early age asking my Mother for more and more paper, “I need more paper Mom!” I went through a ton of paper back then and sometimes she’d look at my scribbles and say “What is it?” My usual answer back, “It’s a monster!” Like how could my Mother not see that I just drew a monster? 🙂

I wasn’t very good in grade school, not much interested early on anyway, I found the challenge of drawing to be sort of an escape from reality and way more interesting. My drawing style was formed early on by depicting things I dreamed up in my head. This went on for several years and once I got into a high school Art classes I decided to take my interest in drawing and painting to another level, focusing more on “realism”, or at least more “realistic” scenes whether it be a landscape or people. To my surprise I was called up onto the stage in our high school graduation ceremony by the school Principal and awarded an “achievement” in Art. She commented to me that it was the first time the school had ever recognized anyone graduating with honors in Art. After high school and after bobbing around between local colleges, random courses and menial jobs I kept on drawing and even sold a couple things along the way that now [decades later] I wish I could have back but that’s not how life works.

I dabbled in paint a bit with some water color but mainly opted for acrylics. I steered clear of oils because I had no understanding, no formal training in them. Pen and ink or just a cheap Bic ballpoint pen were my mediums of choice [back then] from my late teen years through my mid-20’s. It was around that time in my mid 20’s when reality tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Guess what? It’s going to be impossible for you to achieve any quality of life if you stay on this track”. It didn’t take long for me to recognize that going forward and producing artworks would leave me with few choices in life, plus the fact that I would most likely starve to death while in that pursuit. No, instead I would need to obtain meaningful education and skills [in other areas] or join the ranks of a starving artist.

Enter Divine Intervention
I’d like to say that I absolutely believe in divine intervention. I do not believe it’s an everyday occurrence [in one’s life] but it certainly happens and for reasons we are not always privy to or aware of since we’re not pulling the strings right? My life has been a testament to divine intervention. It couldn’t have played out the way it has without God intervening on my behalf. Fast forwarding now to my late 20’s I was broke, having been laid off from work in oil pipe sales a couple times and freshly divorced from my first wife. Things were still very much unsettled on the home front for me as I searched for answers. I do not know where it came from, must have been the Holy Spirit sending me a message and that message was to “become a stockbroker – brokering stocks is the job you need to pursue”. I thought to myself wait, what? I don’t even know anyone that’s in that business! Still the same message stayed inside my head reminding me, “become a Stockbroker, just go get it!” And over the next few months I did just that, the first item on the agenda, I had to pass the licensing exams. I might add right here that nothing good ever comes easy and neither did this one but that foray into the brokerage arena [for me] turned into a 30-year career. It was hard work along with heightened levels of stress but the rewards were decent, nice. As the years went on I stayed on track with my goals – obtained ever higher levels of education along with earning more financial industry accolades. The result, I am one of the luckiest people in the world to be given this opportunity to pursue a career exactly suited to my skill set and to keep the person I was then mentally engaged and persistent. I had finally found where I belonged [within an alphabet soup of meaningful work]. Again, without this direction from God things [for me] would have surely turned out much different.

I Remember Well
I had a couple-three goals when I was young – achieve levels of education, earn a decent living which is vital to independence and lastly, avoid starving to death. Oh, and marry and have my own children was also in there. All these things I have checked off my list! These are things I’m very grateful for but there’s still work to be done in one unfinished area. My Mother often asked me, “are you drawing and painting again?” The answer was always “No I don’t have time, there’s work, classes, training, and kids and kid activities and my personal home renovation projects, and this and that” and [needless to say] always some other thing going on. She would always press me on some day returning to my artwork and I promised her that I would. She’d say, “you better because you’re too talented to let it go!” So rather than go it alone, a year ago I committed to some classes designed to get me back into that artistic mindset [or groove], and maybe even get exposure to new ideas/techniques? So after 40 years of absence I am taking a class in “Tones”, the medium is always charcoal and three of those examples are included here.

My Full Circle
I look at myself now, back to doing those things I began life doing. This past twelve months I’m back to drawing again and planning to pursue oil paints next. It’s a “return to my roots” sort of comeback for a person born into a creative duo of parents. I did what was necessary, not that it didn’t mean working my ass off [for years] both scholastically and at the office. I owe my life to the divine direction I received inside my head [coming out of nowhere] that provided me with meaningful work. It was everything I needed to support myself, raise a family, and successfully retire. Now I am free to fulfill the last promise I made to my Mom, [the sweetest woman I’ve ever known].