Artwork by Apoena de Abreu

A Second Chance

Hello fellow students!

My name is Apoena, I’m a 26 years old Brazilian and an airplane mechanic by profession.

As a child, I learned to draw by myself (at a child’s level, of course, but still pretty impressively considering my social background) and used to be a creative and motivated student. My family and friends used to cheer me up, I would draw my favorite cartoon characters, expend hours browsing art books in the school’s library and absolutely disgracing the house’s furnishings with failed attempts at painting.

In my teenage I would draw in the spare minutes between classes, in the back-cover of my notebooks using ball-pens and any colored pencil I had left. In time those notebooks were so full with drawings that I would simply give them away for friends who liked them. Not being able to have a proper education on arts, I would stare at people and try to draw them, looking with bitter jealousy at the old masters for having managed to become legends in a time where internet and art-books were not available and, poor me, couldn’t draw an apple realistically.

And then a time of adulthood came and… well, sort of spoiled things. I was still enloved with art and desperately trying to learn, but as I believe it happens with many here, I was slowly discouraged to pursuit an art education and career. Growing older and having my country’s economical situation to worry about, people around me would advise to pursuit another field, “something with a proper payment… and a health insurance” they would say, and so I did.

I studied and worked a lot for years to get my aircraft mechanic licenses, finally managing to get a job in the field and working some more for the next 5 years. And don’t get me wrong: I do love my job and have no regrets about it. Being responsible for so many lives is something I never imagined myself doing properly, and with time I figured I was actually proud of myself for once. The down side of it is, I am a 26 years old woman with little – or nonexistent – social life, all I am and do is made of metal and grease and noise and stainless steel tools and life is quickly slipping through my fingers, time passing very fast and I am here, feeling sorry for myself for not doing something about it.

It feels like unfinished business. I was borne with with a purpose and allowed it to be taken from me, something I was put in this world to do and didn’t tried hard enough to accomplish.

I found the Drawing Academy course while browsing for tutorials. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just searching for inspirations or motivation, and then I found it. The short previews I was able to watch gave me hope of finally having the art education I was never able to have in my own country, in a way I can easily understand and apply in the humble drawings that followed. As a student, I wish to work hard to create beauty and emotion, a tiny moment of peace in a world that demand so much of us, a little bit of pleasure for those who spent the whole day surrounded by blankness and stress.

And so here I am before you all, asking for a chance to give my contribution.

I hope to have your support and your vote, and regardless of the outcome it is a pleasure to be here.

Until next time!