BLESSINGS
Being A Kansas Native Has Delivered Many Blessings From God
I took this photo in August of 2010 after coming through a particularly strong thunderstorm on my motorcycle.
The photo was taken just north of Topeka, Kansas on Highway 75 looking west. Of all the photos I have taken over the years this is my favorite.
I had dismounted the motorcycle to capture one of the most glorious sunsets I had ever witnessed. I was getting my camera out of my saddle bag when I heard the honking; I quickly spun and shot.
This photo to me represents the true spirit of those who are proud to call Kansas home. No matter what adversity may loom over head the people of Kansas will always have the strength to rise above the storm and move ahead. I am proud to be a native born Kansan and I thank God that he bestowed that blessing upon me.
Because I am a Native Born Kansan I have had many opportunities that would not have presented themselves elsewhere. Being born an artist I can look at the world with an artist eye. With that artist eye I started noticing the beauty of the Kansas landscape at an early age. Noticing that beauty and capturing it on paper led to many doors opening for me.
I had an appreciation, way beyond my age of 5 years old, for the art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. I was able to get advanced art classes at Washburn Universities Mulvane Gallery when just 7 years old. I was personally tutored by famed muralist Harry Roth between the ages of 8 – 10. I was a Free Lance Artist for the Nazarene Publishing House at 17 years of age. I turned down a $50,000 a year 15 year contract with a major greeting card company at 19 years of age because of artistic integrity I had learned as a Native born Kansan. That decision led to my 46 year long career as Kansas’ most experienced Body Artist.
Yes, I have received many blessings because of being born a Native Kansan. At times I failed to appreciate those blessings and acknowledge from where those blessings come. Yet as I have become older and wiser there is not a day that I do not thank the one who created me and gave me those blessings.
Thank You for allowing me to share of myself with you through my art and that gift of talent that God bestowed upon me. I feel truly blessed.
-The GYPSY-