'Blue Jay' in acrylics on canvas
Landscape in oils on canvas
'Sunset on the Beach' in acrylics on canvas
Snowman Christmas card in acrylics on paper
These ones were a lot easier to date because I'd written the dates on 'Blue Jay' and 'Sunset on the Beach,' and my current sketchbook started at August 2006. I definitely improved a lot that year. That was a very dark and lonely year for me, at age nine or ten, and I became very nervous and self-conscious, which in turn led me to become a perfectionist. I guess I focused more on my art than on the people around me.
I painted 'Blue Jay' for my mother for her birthday. In retrospect, it was kind of awful for me to give this to only her and not my father as well, because their birthdays are three days apart.
I'm not exactly sure when I finished the landscape, but I vaguely remember it being a June, and my signature on it matches my signatures on other pieces that year.
'Sunset on the Beach' was the first drawing from my current sketchbook that I worked up. The back of the canvas says I finished it on 9/23/06. I also signed the front in red pen, but it's pretty hard to read.
The Christmas card was done in less than a single lesson, which means I took less than an hour to finish it. My teacher was impressed at how fast I was, but now I'm actually a very slow worker. I think this started that year, actually, because very meticulous with my art due to my perfectionism.