Dear Diary

Or should I say, "Dear Blog"?

It is recommended that creative individuals, like myself, should keep a diary. They should write down ideas and accomplishments to reflect on and learn from at a later date. In the book, Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build An Incredible Career by Jocelyn K. Glei, Glei discusses how a diary "can make you more aware of your own progress, thus becoming a wellspring of joy in your workday"(Glei, 117). I've never been much of a diary person, so I am hoping a blog will work just as well. (Because that "wellspring of joy" sounds pretty good!)

I am currently a senior Interactive Digital Design major at Quinnipiac University. I am spending my last semester building my portfolio and branding myself. It is going to be the hardest and most rewarding semester of my college career. I plan to use this blog to track the progress of my portfolio, documenting trials, tribulations and accomplishments along the way. 

First Trial: Who Am I?

I am an artist. I remember the exact moment I realized that I was an artist. Before starting at Quinnipiac, I was a Fine Art and Secondary Education double major at Monmouth University for 4 ½ years. At the end of my fourth year, my Painting 3 professor told me something I will never forget. He said, “An artist isn’t an artist because they like to create art. An artist is an artist because they have to create art”. I did not fully appreciate the profoundness of his words in that moment. It wasn’t until I awoke from a deep sleep one night because I had an idea for a painting, that I knew. I grabbed for my sketchbook, half asleep, because I had to get the idea down on paper. I had to see it. The next day, I turned that sketch into a painting. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I needed to see my idea as a painting. I needed it to be created. I am an artist.

Although my first love is painting, I work mostly digital now. My painting style tends to be more “design-y” anyway, so it was a natural transition. It took me four years to figure out who I was as an artist. This semester is going to involve a lot of reflection and research to figure out who I am as a designer and let that show through in my portfolio.