I can't sleep. So I guess I'm going to talk about my Art.

I don't think this will be a sarcastic blog.  My personality shifts at 2 in the morning:

Butterfly.

A birthday present for a friend.

Eric

A bunch of different works in progress.

Playing with Colored Pencil

Playing with Watercolor Pencil.

My Lizard, Ulla.

Beyonce

A Uromastyx in watercolor pencil

Sport

Now, what you've got to understand about my art is that I am so specific.  I only get joy out of drawing animals or other things that I feel close to.  Naturally, I get frustrated easily and I only get "urges" to draw (much like I get the urge to blog).  It is very difficult for me to maintain a steady level of drawing talent year round.  Sometimes I have bursts of creativity I can't keep in.  Right now I'm painting (like I said, I had the urge) my beagle Duncan.  But that urge was something I woke up with two days ago.

You can tell the animals that I'm particularly close to from the others because they have eyes that deliberately connect with the viewer.  The ones that I don't have a close bond with will have less of a connection because I have nothing to recreate.  Personally, I was closest to Sport, intrigued by Eric, and I thought Butterfly was wonderful to draw.  I don't know if the differences are noticeable to anyone but myself.

In high school I was encouraged to go to art school by my art teacher.  He- for whatever reason- believed that I had the unique combination of drive and talent to really make it in art school.  But what he didn't understand was that my drive came from recreating the images of animals I had loved or seen around me.  And my talent (I would assume) came from the same thing, and from practice.  What he also never understood was that my preferred name is Jenny, not Jennifer, but after 2 years I had to let that one slide.

So I didn't go to art school.  I went to Becker College, where I was able to major in Animal Care and Criminal Justice.  I got to be around the animals that inspired me and got even more opportunities to draw and create images that other people could take home with them after the source was gone.

After I created a good deal of art for the December Petfest, I went home and visited my High School.  My art teacher was excited to see me and had asked how my art was going.  I was glad I had something to show him.  Despite not going to art school.  And he promptly introduced me to a freshman very interested in animal portraiture and asked me to explain the most important part of a portrait.  As I said before, I think it is the connection with the viewer that matters the most, and to me, that is in the eyes.

I guess you just have to decide what in your life is most important, and to what extent it drives the rest of your life. Sure, Art mattered to me, but my love for animal rescue is what got me drawing.  You can't let anyone push you into the wrong career because of the way they perceive your strengths, I suppose you have to trust your gut.
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Also, I didn't want to be a starving artist.

Here's some links:

My art on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.177194529877.153954.578409877&l=f8e6ceaaa9&type=1

My Art Teacher's Work: http://victorleger.com/  He does landscapes.