sarahhulst creativestylebook - Flipbook - Page 8
Art Journey
A
fun fact about me is that I didn’t draw my first recognizable picture till I was four. Being the first
child, my mom still remembers the moment. We were at a doctor’s office for my younger sister
who was only a few months old at the time. We had to wait in the waiting room for a while so I preoccupied myself by drawing. Up until this point all the art I created were just scribbles with overlapping
colors from my crayons. The scribbles weren’t always harsh jagged lines, they had a softness to them
and created patterns of swirls and coils mimicking what a plate of spaghetti would look like only if
it were multi colored. After I had completed my first drawing in the waiting room, I turned around to
show my mom. I drew myself next to my mom, and my younger sister in my moms’ arms as we stood
outside our minivan under the hot Arizona sun. My mom was already concerned with my learning
skills since I was slightly behind average. So, when I showed my mom my artwork that day, she was
proud not for my amazing art skill but for my progress, because in a child’s life drawing a recognizable image around the age of three is expected. I always find this story to be so interesting because
my skills have advanced so much since that day.
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Growing up people would always admire my art skills, yet even when people praised my art, I was
never influenced to make my work cater toward their opinions. I always continued to create art
that I liked, and I believe that’s what made art such an enjoyable part of my life. I did it only for myself. In pre-school and kindergarten, I absolutely loved arts and crafts time. At home I would draw
in notebooks my parents gave me. People in elementary school knew me as the girl who was really
good at art class, and drawing. In third grade I created a doubled sided drawing of the inside of a
house. I showed it my friends and before I knew it, I was creating copies of my drawing with different colors to personalize it for people in my class. When I attended fifth grade camp, I signed up for
different sessions like crafts macrame and sketch and write. I loved being outdoors creating art.
When I went into middle school, I signed up for an art class, I also created my own sketches and
paintings at home in my free time. Middle school was the time I realized how massive the art world
is. I had my own electronic device and learned how to improve my own art by admiring creators
on social media. Middle school was also the time I created what I called; Sarah’s Summer Sketchbooks, a one-hundred-page composition notebook where I documented the things I did throughout
the summer. It became a ritual and something I looked forward to every year. After practicing
my art skills throughout middle school, when I went to high school nothing changed. I was still a
short dorky girl obsessed with cats, the 80’s and art, and looking back as an adult that still hasn’t
changed. I was in another art class my freshman year of high school and felt confident especially when I heard people behind me whisper, “look at her drawing, that’s really good.” Although I
constantly created art for myself having people acknowledge my skills, and encourage me was a
positive reminder to keep doing it. My freshman year my art teacher had selected me and another
student to join the yearbook committee the next year. After going to yearbook camp to create the
theme, and the other visuals, then creating a book for nine months, and seeing the final copy in late
spring I was addicted. I became what us yearbook members called each other a ‘yerd” (a yearbook
Nerd). I ended up working on three yearbooks and became assistant editor my senior year.
Once high school came to an end, I started my next chapter at Spokane falls Community college. I
was barely creating art at this time, and would onlyl doodle in the margins of my notebooks. Then
the pandemic hit, and being at home all day was the best thing ever as an introvert, I had time to
make art, work, and do my classwork. After graduating at Spokane Falls in 2021, I transferred to
WSU to focus primarily on art. In the fall of 2021, I walked into each of my classes’ feeling honored
to have this opportunity to strengthen the skills I’ve used for so many years, and figure out what I
want to do in my future with my talent.
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