As I’m nearing this upcoming milestone birthday, I’m thinking a lot about the people and things that have inspired me.  How through all the thick and thin, I am who I am because of it all.  It’s actually why I don’t like birthdays really. However, this year I can celebrate having fulfilled a dream – I am a professional artist now! 

When I was five, my grandma taught me how to knit and I made my kindergarten transport driver a scarf for Christmas. I can’t imagine now what it looked like, I’m 90% sure that there were a ton of holes and that I only used scrap yarn, but the way he lit up when I gave it to him, I will always remember.

Then my grandpa taught me how to cross stitch. I embellished everything – tshirts, pants, made pictures, bibs, everything I could touch.

Somewhere in there I started drawing and couldn’t stop. I got a how to draw Mickey Mouse and Friends book, as well as how to draw cartoon people. I was hooked. I drew whenever there was a writing utensil near me – even those white stones that draw on the concrete!

Then I was introduced to fine art. When we went to the Museum of Natural History, I spent so much time asking whomever I was with about the dioramas and who painted them. I was intrigued that there were museums just for art.

I’m not sure when it was but I then found the Impressionists. I believe it was during an English class that we studied the Don McLean song Vincent. I was swept up in how they changed the face of art. They took art from the elite to the everyday. They changed the way we saw the world, how artists looked at the world. I learned art can change the world.  

I focused on art, until high school. Then I was kind of forced down a university track that I didn’t want. I ended up getting my Bachelor of Science double majoring in Mathematics and Statistics with a minor in Fine Art. Yeah. I listened to those around me that said art was an unsuccessful path. I still held on a little though.

Somewhere I forgot how to knit and started crocheting. I’d crochet friends’ babies blankets, and toys and trinkets. I’d craft Christmas decorations. I told myself someday I’d have an art room in my house.

When I met my future husband, he had very little knowledge of the art I was so enthralled with, and so I’d drag him around to all the artsy things I could find. Now he comes very willingly and I can’t wait to share this all with my little one.

When I got married, I made doilies for each table and they were part of the favours! I found so many amazing patterns, some so old they were from the early 1800s. They were my favourite to make because they made me feel connected to this way of making things. I feel grounded when I’m around things that have a history.

I never meant to get sappy in this blog. It’s just things that have been on my mind a lot lately. I realized how long I’ve been drawing and crocheting and dreaming of having these shops so that I can share what I love to make. (Even though 5 years ago if you said I’d have a strange robot portal open and I’d have a ton of new robot friends I wanted to share with the world, I would not have believed you at all!) I’ve got some exciting new robot friends coming up – I’ve been inspired by the people who have inspired me (Frida Khalo, Vincent Van Gogh, Anthony Bourdain, Johnny Cash, and more). I’m also in the process of designing some new bags for my Etsy shop. And none of this would have been possible without those who inspired me. Sometimes history feels heavy, but that’s the responsibility I feel I have to pass this knowledge along and to keep the memories and stories alive.

I mean it when I say I want to make sure I have a good story to tell in the end, I want my little one to understand this responsibility and to pass it all along somehow to the next generations too.

Thanks for being with me friends. I hope you are all taking care and maybe have a moment to reflect and think about those who’ve inspired you.

Take care,

Leslie