Talents and Passion

I've been thinking a lot lately about how my life has gone where talents, interests, and hobbies are concerned. I've had a lot of passions and have followed those closely, and looking back, I can see how they've helped me.

The biggest thing I notice is that my passions and talents have always followed the arts. Except for that brief excursion I had with car repair and maintenance. :-) (I learned out to maintain my own car, including replacing pipes and valves and changing the oil. Something everyone should know how to do. :-))

What is it that pushes you? What are your strongest passions? And is it possible to make money doing one of those things?

Only you know the answers to these questions.

For a long time, I wanted to become a concert pianist. I mastered Franz Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Jon Schmidt. (Yes, Jon is one of those famous classical composers. :-)) Even though I loved playing the viola, I was more passionate about the piano, and therefore, quickly surpassed my viola-playing abilities. (I still play the viola in church, funerals, and family get-togethers, however.)

Then, with the help of a friend, I discovered painting. I first learned how to paint with acrylics, then oils. I wish I'd done it the other way around - oils are so much easier to blend and work with. They allow the artist to fix mistakes or make changes.

Here are some of my favorite paintings:

This was my first oil painting, and my first portrait. The original was done by Greg Olsen, and I had the help of a wonderful elderly woman who taught me the names of the oil paints and which ones would look the best. It was all done by my own hand, eye-balling the original.

I really like sceneries and spent most of my time painting them with acrylics and oil. 

The theme in my bedroom in my parent's house was Piove Sull'oceano, which is the name of a Josh Groban song. Click here to listen to it. :-) (That's a link to a Youtube video.) I painted this while listening to that song on repeat. The painting also bears the name Piove Sull'oceano. (Rain over the ocean)

I especially like painting more abstract things. This is a set I did for our master bedroom. They took about ten hours each to complete - which, from their simplicity, is impossible to tell. :-)

Another set of paintings for my master bedroom. 

All of the paintings above, except for the one of Christ, were completed in the last five years. Here are some links to my earlier works: my first water color (painted for my older brother's Eagle Court of Honor), an abstract painting of mountains (when I first discovered oil paints), a pencil drawing of a kitten that I did when I was sixteen, and some black mountains. As you can see, I like mountains. :-)

The one thing I never tried out growing up was writing. My older sister was "the writer," and I've never really been competitive, so I stayed away from that area for many years. When I was 22, I couldn't hold it in anymore and started writing. I wrote my first book in six weeks (and took well over a year to perfect it). I'm really glad I spent a lot of time with other hobbies and passions first, since I got that out of my system (still paint and play the piano occasionally). Writing is where my heart is. I'll never stop - it drives me so much more than any other artistic pursuit.

What about you? What did you spend your time learning and focusing on? Where is your attention now, when it comes to talents and passions? Are there any areas you'd like to focus on in the future?