Long days were spent smelling flowers, gathering caterpillars and bugs, playing in the woods, and creating things from scratch. My imagination was my best companion because we lived in the country, far away from the closest town.
There was something new to investigate and learn about everywhere I went. Others might consider it an infinite scavenger hunt, but not me. It was an escape from my everyday existence and a journey to a mystical location where, in my opinion, the fantastical animals I first discovered as a child existed. We could be the closest friends if I could just locate them.
As I entered junior high school, I stopped playing make-believe but started running cross-country on trails that meandered through thick forest settings, along dikes, and over streams. Still enjoying authentic art, I made a mask for a school assignment by gathering clay from a creek near our course in the woods. I began to write lengthy chapters and poems to satisfy my need for expressiveness. Early in my 20s, I experimented with polymer clay and made sculptures, which are still a mainstay of my work today.
In my thirties, I spent most of my time developing a lucrative photography business, starting with nature fine art, and then adding people to the landscape art in weddings, portraits, and bands. I have always enjoyed being outside versus being inside. It was where I had the most inspiration and patience, and the lighting was ideal.
Waiting for the ideal opportunity gave me more pleasure than taking something average and making it perfect. This might have been a metaphor for my own life.
*shrug*
I also authored fantasy novels with time travel, faery folk and forests, trolls, and other mysterious animals hidden in mountains and valleys during this time. Words are just words to others, but I felt alive as my thoughts poured onto the page and filled the paper with new ideas.
I shut down my photography business when I moved to my current location and started sculpting again. While I enjoyed it, something was lacking beyond the character and the narrative when I started making dragons. I was missing the fantastical realm of the mind, the area where I and others might wander off and get lost.
To complete the riddle, I added photographs and started to seek natural settings to highlight my work. By combining art, literature, and nature, I constructed the worlds that previously captured my imagination, bringing the magical piece that had been missing.
Next week, I will continue this adventure, providing insight into how the corporate world has impacted my art.
Until then, keep creating, find adventure, and stay wicked.
x Tara x