My first love is art, and art has the power to change a person's life completely, and being a child, when it does, is very effective. One of my earliest memories was discovering art. I remember thinking, "Wow, this is so cool." "I wish I could draw like that." "I think I want to be an artist.". I was in my brother's baby blue walled room and smelled the fresh ink of the graffiti printed in his notebook. At five years old, I discovered the greatest love of my life, art. I grew up with lots of creative people, but the person who had the most influence on me was my eldest brother. When I started creating some artwork, I drew everything in sight and still use this tactic in some of my current work. I am still so in love with art, and even over time, it has branched out into multiple forms in general. I got my first inspiration from my oldest brother, who would draw graffiti in his notebooks, so that's where I started. He was one of the first people I had looked up to as an artist. I had so many drawing notebooks from the ages 5-10 that I can't even count how many my parents threw out. The first thing I drew was a princess and a prince holding hands, and I remember thinking people would line up to buy my art. I used to think the purpose of creating art was to sell it, but now that I'm older, when I make art, it's to satisfy me and to get my vision out. I love to express myself with art, whether on paper, on clothes, or even on my body. Growing up as a young artist has molded my mind to not think in one way but to try to understand and connect in multiple ways. There will be times when I neglect it, but I promise I will come back running to art once again. I don't know what I would do without art. It's helped me through my dark, best, and core moments with the things going on in my life. Art can take in various ways, such as dancing when I'm joyful, music when I'm feeling down, or doodling anywhere when releasing negative emotions. My comfort is in art because it reminds me of my childhood and how I grew up loving it. I will never forget the times my grandma would watch me draw and creep over my shoulder with her coffee scent and say, "Lauren, you're so talented." "I wish I could draw like you." "I think you should be an artist when you grow up.". My grandma always knew I would be something big in this world as an artist, and she was right. I would take that path in some way by attending a school that helps me grow my skills as an artist. My high school fills with talented and gifted students. Dancers are dancing up and down the hall, singers performing their songs, artists in their natural habitat, actors running their lines, math and science students being studious, writers sharing their poems, and global study students reading about the world. Art will always be my first love because of how it was there for me all my life, and I hope to continue with this love forever. My favorite artist of all the greats is Kees Van Dongen! Something about his style is so engrossing and inspires my own artwork with his color schemes. I love his unusual use of color for skin tones.

My first love is art, and art has the power to change a person's life completely, and being a child, when it does, is very effective. One of my earliest memories was discovering art. I remember what I was thinking, "Wow, this is so cool." "I wish I could draw like that." "I think I want to be an artist.". I was in my brother's baby blue walled room and smelled the fresh ink of the graffiti printed in his notebook. At five years old, I discovered the greatest love of my life, art. I grew up with lots of creative people, but the person who had the most influence on me was my eldest brother. When I started creating some artwork, I drew everything in sight and still use this tactic in some of my current work. I am still so in love with art, and even over time, it has branched out into multiple forms in general. I got my first inspiration from my oldest brother, who would draw graffiti in his notebooks, so that's where I started. He was one of the first people I had looked up to as an artist. I had so many drawing notebooks from the ages 5-10 that I can't even count how many my parents threw out. The first thing I drew was a princess and a prince holding hands, and I remember thinking people would line up to buy my art. I used to think the purpose of creating art was to sell it, but now that I'm older, when I make art, it's to satisfy me and to get my vision out. I love to express myself with art, whether on paper, on clothes, or even on my body. Growing up as a young artist has molded my mind to not think in one way but to try to understand and connect in multiple ways. There will be times when I neglect it, but I promise I will come back running to art once again. I don't know what I would do without art. It's helped me through my dark, best, and core moments with the things going on in my life. Art can take in various ways, such as dancing when I'm joyful, music when I'm feeling down, or doodling anywhere when releasing negative emotions. My comfort is in art because it reminds me of my childhood and how I grew up loving it. I will never forget the times my grandma would watch me draw and creep over my shoulder with her coffee scent and say, "Lauren, you're so talented." "I wish I could draw like you." "I think you should be an artist when you grow up.". My grandma always knew I would be something big in this world as an artist, and she was right. I would take that path in some way by attending a school that helps me grow my skills as an artist. My high school fills with talented and gifted students. Dancers are dancing up and down the hall, singers performing their songs, artists in their natural habitat, actors running their lines, math and science students being studious, writers sharing their poems, and global study students reading about the world. Art will always be my first love because of how it was there for me all my life, and I hope to continue with this love forever.