Who Am I? Where Did I Come From? Where Am I Going?

I started drawing when I was about 2 in response to the harsh realities of the real world. Creating little worlds to escape to as a child was a consuming pasttime. I worked in 3D at our home on Farley Drive. It had a milk box in the wall in the back of the house. You know, a milk box, a place for the milkman who came by at 3 am to leave your daily order of milk. It was about a foot square and I would cut out cardboard to make chairs and a couch. A washcloth made a convenient carpet. Yes...imagination run amuck. Drawing was an instant and magical tool for social acceptance in grade school too. Without it I would have vaporized into obscurity, just one of the masses who didn't have the right clothes and connections.
I had great teachers in high school who sent me to the "great art school downtown" my senior year. My work was picked to be displayed in the halls alongside the college kid's work. Even today I marvel at that. It was a great accomplishment. But it just flows out of me. It shocks me sometimes that I can do what I do. Like it didn't really come from me. Sometimes I wonder if it does!?
Anyway, I did get to go on to college. I had lots of milestones there, too. The dean of Arts and Humanities bought one of my paintings for $550. I quickly bought a digital camera.
These days I've taken on Goliath. Yes, I'm working to live by my art alone. I'm pushing back at life. I'm done with "real jobs". Sometimes I can't sleep at night because I'm so excited about what I'm working on, or what I want to say to the world. This is the way life should be. Hopefully, I can bring some insight into the artworld through my own experience. Break down some misconceptions. Make art accessible. Dive in with me.