I remember when I was really young, I was sitting in my elementary school art class. The lesson that day was learning how to draw trees by just using the letter V. The teacher told us to keep on branching off from each side of the letter V until it ends up creating all these little branches. After what seemed like hours there was a tree in front of me! After this lesson I was hooked.
I became obsessed with trying to draw everything that I possibly could. I began to experiment and always had something to draw on. My favorite thing at that time was horses, I had everything that you can possibly imagine with a horse on it.
I started drawing horses and they looked horrible then! But to me they were the most beautiful drawings in the world. I couldn’t wait to show them off to my family, I was proud of every single one of them. The drawings became real horses to me, I even gave them names.
I started taking more art classes the older I got. I started researching everything related to art, my family even started buying me drawing books. I wouldn’t give up until I could draw exactly what was pictured in those books.
I began to stand out in my drawings. My unique style would shine through each drawing and would catch attention by many different people of all ages. My classmates would ask me for help on how to do certain techniques. I really enjoyed taking lots of classes and learning everything that I possibly could.
As the years went on, I kept finding ways on how to improve my art skills. I started drawing in black and white using a mechanical pencil. I then started using acrylic paint and high quality markers. It took me awhile to get comfortable with drawing and painting with color, I struggled a bit with blending colors at first. Once I became more comfortable with using color my artwork evolved. I just recently started experimenting with oil paint!
After I got comfortable with using the different mediums, I then went to fine tuning the little details. I became obsessed with shading fur, highlights, tiny lines, drawing in the personality of animals and humans. I would experiment with stippling, a process of creating a drawing out of nothing but little dots. It was incredibly time consuming, and really taught me a lot of patience. I felt so amazing after the drawing was done!
Fast forward to the summer before college. I spent that time painting for multiple people who paid me for my time. It was my first experience with actually getting paid to do something that I loved. It sparked that entrepreneurial spirit in me. I began to think, “This would be amazing to do this for the rest of my life and make a living off of it!” I was talked out of going to college for fine art, I went for interior design instead.
I was told that I would end up hating fine art if it became my full time job, I shouldn’t have listened, but I was young. Interior design was a lot of fun, and I filled a lot of my electives and generals with art based classes. I was able to take a class on how to draw people where we actually had a model pose. I learned about color theory, how to blend colors, and even new shading techniques!
To this day I look back at my journey and I wouldn’t change a thing. Fine art is my number one passion, my foundation, and base for everything that I do. Because I spent years studying and experimenting as much as I could I am able to accomplish a lot with my art. I’m also able to branch off to other art forms, like photography, crochet, fashion, and jewelry making. All of it has a part of fine art in it!
My dreams for the future:
I really want to have my art showcased in a multiple galleries around the world.
I wouldn’t be who I am without having art in my life, and I can’t wait to see what I can accomplish in the years to come!
Thank you so much for reading and see you next Sunday!
Love-
Chelsey Hartgers
ChelseyRaeCreations