My first memory drawing was around five or six. I used paper and crayons that were supposed to be for school. These were put to better use by redrawing the images from all of my picture books. My favorite were the Richard Scarry books, especially Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. I also tried drawing my favorite cartoons on TV.

As a kid, I did a lot of sketching, mostly of my favorite cartoons. Then I had a summer in Colombia. I stayed with my dad’s family. That’s when I really got into art, spending a lot of that summer with my late uncle Jorge, a pretty good artist in his day.

I loved hanging out in his room because he had a massive collection of color pencils, paints, and pastels, and he let me use some of them.

He also taught me a few things. That summer, he helped me with my first two official art pieces, two clowns. When I finished, I took them around to show everybody, only to hear people tell me not to take Jorge’s drawings without his permission. Their expressions after learning that they were mine have stuck with me since, probably what really launched my love of art. That’s when I realized that art was more than just a hobby.

During my years as a student in grade school through high school, I took every art class I could, but it didn’t help that most times my teachers were at my level. It did help impress girls, though. I did look at art school, well, just one. Ringling. I was overwhelmed. My mother was not impressed.

I attended a regular liberal arts college as an art student. Back then, my dream was to become a fine artist, maybe even an animator. That dream didn’t last. After three semesters as an art student, I changed majors, and art slowly started to fade out of my life.

Why? What happened?

Part of it is on me. When you get to college, your teachers are no longer on your level. They’re in a higher stratosphere. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing. Still, it hit my ego a bit. I also wasn’t the best artist. I was one of many talented artists. Again, that’s a good thing. The real reason I dropped out of the program was the fact that I fell out of love with it. At 18, I wasn’t ready to be an artist. I didn’t have the discipline. I didn’t know where I could take that skill.

Looking back now, it all makes sense. Then again, isn’t that typical? Wisdom is hindsight.

In the years following college, I would pick up a pencil or pen on occasion, but art was falling behind me as I pursued my career in radio.

Funny enough, as art moved further and further away from my focus, there were so many instances when I asked the question, What if. What if I stayed in the art department and finished with a degree in art? What if I had found my voice on the canvas way back then? Could I have made it work?

What I didn’t realize was that I was going to go back to school, just not in a traditional way. Ten years into my radio career, I made the move into public broadcasting. What followed was a twenty-year career where I would have access to art in ways I never could in school.

During my time as a public radio host, I have met a parade of artists, attended all sorts of art shows and exhibitions, and even comic book festivals, and I got to see the world of art from a creative and economic point of view. This was an education from the school of hard knocks.

Still, I didn’t realize that all of that was leading me to this moment. I was out of love with art from the perspective of an artist, even though I loved talking to artists.

That was until the pandemic.

I was one of the few people at work who had to be in the office. My days were lonely sitting in this massive newsroom all alone. The pandemic and constant coverage of a world flipped upside down were getting to me. One day, I picked up some of the wet/dry markers and started doodling on the whiteboard. It didn’t take long before I felt that spark that had long ago darkened. I fell in love with the art of creating again.

Since the pandemic, my life has gone through a lot, good and bad. That’s been discussed in this podcast. My love of art has only grown, and slowly I’m getting back to a regular routine of sketching and drawing daily. More than that, I’m looking to expand my skills and really dive into art, because I am still asking the question, what if?