My middle-school art teacher’s name was Mrs. Love.
She had short, curly brown hair, wore funky glasses, and carried herself with the same walk, air, and mannerisms as Miss Geist in that classic movie, Clueless.
And I absolutely adored her.
I often wish I could sit down with her now — as adults — and tell her I became a professional artist while a barista sets down two hearty lattes between us.
I think she’d smile…
—but only if she remembered what a math-and-science geek I was.
I think she’d be proud…
—but only if she understood why I chose this path.
And I think she’d ask me a question that would make me ponder for another thirty years… —just to be sure I was still honoring the most fundamental aspect of being an artist.
Because Mrs. Love stood comfortably in the soft grey—
not in the black-and-white of “right” and “wrong.”
She would nod at proper technique… but tilt her head ever so slightly, as if to say, “Yes… but where are you in this?”
Ever since she entered my life, I’ve tried to create from that delicate, vulnerable space where the artist steps inside the work — weaving in her life experiences, her influences, her love, her pain, her joy — until the piece carries something unmistakably human.
And the result doesn’t have to be epic or profound.
🌳 It can be something as simple as a “Scribble Tree.”
Because here’s the truth:
A realistic drawing almost always earns the loudest applause.
“Wow… it looks so real.”
And then we’re all quick to label that person an artist.
But if your only goal is to replicate the reference exactly as it appears, you are practicing skill — not always making art.
Skill is essential.
But skill without perspective is imitation.
Art requires insertion.
It requires risk.
It requires you 🫵
For years, I rejected learning highly realistic techniques because they made me feel rigid… restrained… less expressive.
Sometimes I even let my lack of skill in that style convince me I'm not a “real” artist.
Such bullsh*t, right?
That’s why I scribble my trees.
I love trees.
All trees.
And scribbling them feels like celebrating them — not copying them!
So try it yourself today!
Be the artist you already are.
And put yourself inside the colors of that tree.
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