Breanna Podlasly Art 3.27

I have been drawing for a very long time. I started when i was 7 years old and i remember distinctly taking the ferry from Port Mcneil to Sointula with my mother. I watched her as she pulled a book full of blank paper and started to do a sketch of a horse running in the fields! I could not believe my eyes as to how beautiful and calm she looked when she was sketching that picture! I remember telling myself that i wanted to learn how to be just like that!
Growing up my family was not blessed with alot of money so i started my art journey on paper that came in bundles or packs of 150 blank sheets from staples and an old #2 pencil! I would sketch on everything that i could and was accompanied by my siblings as well!
During the course it took me to get to high school i had grown up with Harry Potter fan fiction and The Lord Of The Rings as my favorite books (I read them all by the time i was 12, except Harry Potter as the last few books weren't out till later!), i grew up with a wide imagination and was introduced as well to the Japanese comic books known as manga! I had never really given much thought to my art back then and was just drawing as a way of fun!
Forward to high school where i got my first mechanical pencil! I thought to myself, "This is what the pro's use!!!". I was of course, very excited to start my first art class in high school thinking i was going to learn so much! I did not! The teacher back then was only interested in the electronic side of art, photography, video and camera... i was disappointed that there was nothing to do with the pencil!
A few years later we got our first real art teacher. She was amazing but by the time she had come around i had all but given up on my art! I had resorted to skipping class and dodging teachers! I can only imagine what i would have learned if i had been in there! The last 2 or 3 years in my high school art class was always spent trying to win the schools art award but i never won due to skipping class and taking too long on projects i was working on! (oops!)
After graduating i learned the value of my art after going through an unfortunate life experience and meeting my fiance! I was so run down when i had met him and hadn't touched a pencil for about 4 or 5 years! He was shocked when he found out that i used to love to draw! We had nearly any money but he ran out as fast as he could and bought me a pencil set and pad of paper! He even went out to the dollar store to buy some paints!
On that first night, i stayed up for hours and drew my hands off! The pictures i drew were the duck toller and bengal kitten portrait on here. My very first portraits and the gateway to where i am now!
I had family who noticed my drawings and asked if i could do a picture for them and it took off like wildfire. I have been unable to put my pencil down since, and i never will again!
Doing wildlife art is my way of being connected to the world around me and to learn about wildlife in particular! Many species will soon become extinct due to poaching and sport hunting. We need to take care of the planet as it takes care of us. I would like for my children and grand children to see the same animals i have when they are my age.