More About ME, where I come from, and why I do what I do
I've been drawing and making art ever since I could pick up a pencil. I thank my mother first and foremost for my vigorous passion of the arts, more specifically with fine art, design, and music. Growing up, she always had some type of art supplies for me and my cousins to busy ourselves with, and she gave us a lot of her time mentoring us. If it wasn't for her own passion and love for art, I might have never chased after it myself. I also thank everyone else in my life, on all sides of my family, including my new family on my husband's side, who are Artists, writers, architects, engineers, comedians, thespians, entrepreneurs, salesman, and doctors. They have attributed to my passion for storytelling, design, and hunger for knowledge and truth. Very rarely does one master something right away, and I personally have to put more effort into the practice. That being said, my family can only go so far. So, Lastly, I'd like to thank all of the teachers who mentored me during my schooling. they hve all helped and inspired me to better myself and my work.
After just about a decade in my early life of trying to figure out what I should do with my talents, I almost went down many paths. These include areas of study such as Law enforcement, entertainment design, storyboarding, illustration, writing, theater stage management, anthropology, geology, and lastly theater stage, costume, and lighting design. Unfortunately, in 2019 while in community college, I suffered from a horrible back injury caused by scoliosis. This took me out of school for a long while, almost bedridden, and brought horrible pain to my everyday life. So, naturally, it made me rethink ALL of my life choices and realize the career paths I was going down was not right for me, especially after my injury. Since I have to be home most of the time due to suffering pain almost 24/7, art seemed like the most logical way to earn some income so I can help my husband as he works his full-time graveyard shift. I've attended many art classes, and once I returned to college after my injury, I had one particular and absolutely amazing teacher who taught Rendering and Product Design. Many people have told me I have something going for myself, but this man really gave me the boost in confidence I needed to start doing things outside of my comfort zone. I had struggled with receiving critiques for most of my childhood life, who doesn't, but for some reason this class and teacher made me think a lot differently. Suddenly I found myself wanting as many critiques as possible in order to better my work as much as I could. My final for his Rendering class was the very first photorealistic realistic art piece I had ever attempted with markers and pencils, something I had been wanting to do, but had struggled to tackle and learn. Hands down, he has been one of my favorite art teachers, and I always credit him for the work I do now. Thanks you from the bottom of my heart Mr. D! FOLLOWING this CLASS AROUND 2020, I MADE MY FATHER AN ART PIECE FROM A PHOTO USING MARKERS AND PENCILS. IT CAME OUT SO WELL AT THE TIME, I STARTED DOING THEM FOR OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS AS GIFTS which brought me to what I do now. Most importantly, I'd like to thank God because he gave me this talent by passing down my family and ancestor's passion for art, learning, knowledge, and truth. If it wasn't for Him subtly kicking my butt over the years to go back into the direction of my art, the thing I love the most in this world besides my husband, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. In the end, I have a calling to be independent. My father had his own business for a long time and so did my Uncle, so our families have a strong want to work for ourselves. Naturally, I decided to continue that legacy and work for myself and no one else as well. If you decided to stick around for the long version, thank you very much for humoring me, and I hope you get an idea of where I'm coming from! I hope that we can work together to bring your photos to life, God bless, Nicole Regina van der veen |
2023 ~ Nicole Regina van der Veen