Works to Nourish the Sprit
I was born to a very talented Tiger mom who put me in my first art show when I was four years old. By the time I was ten I had written three plays, several songs, a book and was an astronomer, despite being chronically ill. I was a brilliant child and expectations of me were very high. And then, to escape, I ran away and tried to survive on the streets of LA as a teen. I finally got a job in a sweatshop, making shirts for $5.00 a shirt. Every free minute I had, I spent working on my fantasy worlds. By the time I was twenty-one, I was working about 100 hours a week and sleeping on the floor for four hours between jobs. I worked at night, and if I hurried through my work, I had an hour or two off to draw and write. After ten years, I had terrible lung problems and left LA for health reasons. I finally got into college, but got pregnant. Everyone said I could work when the baby slept, but my son was wakeful and slept a total of four hours a day. As soon as he was old enough, I had to go back to work.
The only reason this store exists, that my work exists is that I am driven by a vision I had when I was twelve and I am too pig-headed to give up. I still have to work to support my family, but am at my drawing board every day at 5am. I produce about 400 drawings a year and try to get out one graphic novel every year. i am also a fine artist, a herbalist, an avid gardener, and an astronomer.
My message is this: you can do it. It takes a will of iron, but you can. I still have health issues, I still work impossibly hard, but my work is taking off and blooming, and my vision is coming alive. It's about the spirit, about the work, about reaching up to the stars when you are too tired to go on. I have dedicated my whole life to these works of the spirit because I want all of us to go, out, and be angels.
