I have enjoyed painting and drawing since I was a little girl, and painting has become a big part of my life in recent years.

Perhaps something awakened the creativity in me, or maybe I needed a release from the stress of college classes, but I really wanted to get back into painting. I didn’t just want to create pictures that were kind of good, I wanted to be genuinely pleased with them.

Winter breaks and summer vacations became times when I completed as many paintings as I could. I studied the incredibly realistic animals of Flemish artist Rien Poortvliet and attempted to emulate them in my watercolors of rhinos, dogs, horses, owls and giraffes. The beautiful human scenes of John William Waterhouse and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema inspired me to embark upon the challenging task of painting portraits.

I converted my brother’s room into a painting studio (sorry bro), and I spent up to eight hours a day there working on one oil portrait after another.

A tattooed man with long hair, a North African girl with a head scarf, and a Bedouin bride adorned in beads were among my favorite pieces to paint. I have grown to enjoy painting people more than any other subject, as each individual contains interesting details.

On a whim I listed prints of my paintings on my Etsy store, WOMANStudio. I wasn’t expecting much, but in the past year and a half, I’ve made over a hundred sales and counting. As a senior biology major, I hope to attend graduate school next year to pursue certification in cytotechnology.

Having painting as an escape from the complexities of my other pursuits reassures me, and I encourage everyone to give themselves the time to do what they love.