The soft patter of rain hit the bedroom window and in the background were soft gray clouds. It’s a cold and gloomy Sunday afternoon, but the rather sad weather doesn’t seem to effect Michela May. The weather is a perfect day to stay in and create. Inside her small apartment bedroom pieces of art drape the walls adding color to the rather empty white space. Pastels of pink, blues and yellows make up most of the paintings as they hang over her desk and dresser. Small pieces of original characters, flowers and large prints. The largest piece is an elephant painting hanging next to her desk, an original.
I remember the day she had painted it. It was finals week and all of us roommates had been stressed between work and school. She had suggested we all take time for ourselves and suggested we paint to take our mind off of things. All four of us sat had around the kitchen table. I remember being frustrated because my piece wasn’t coming out the way I wanted. Michela kept reassuring me that art didn’t need to be perfect, it just was.
Michela’s caring nature was still prevalent almost two years later. When I asked her if I could interview her for my multimedia profile she was agreed and her first question was “What can I do to help?”, without any hesitation. She was more than happy to share her love of art with me. As I snapped pictures of her various art pieces that she has hung in her room, she was digging art supplies out of a wicker basket and a plastic drawers. The latest piece she was working on was a watercolor print.
She cleared some space on her desk and laid out her brushes and paints. This is how she spent her free time. Sitting at her desk in the dim yellow glow of her lamps creating art pieces for herself and others. In addition to watercolors, Michela typically creates art with graphite, charcoal, pastels, and pencil. These are more of the “traditional art” mediums to work with. She also does digital art with a with a tablet and stylus, drawing tablet, and computer.
I took more pictures of her working and clearing a workspace before I set my phone and a small tripod on her desk and started filming. I sat next to her desk on her bed and we talked about our weekend, and how we were both sad we now lived three hours away from each other and weren’t roommates anymore. After she was done with a few pieces I decided to film a more formal type of interview. I figured I could get some soundbites to fit with the videos I had of her working. It took us about 20 minutes longer than anticipated.
Between loud neighbors, passing cars and our conversations, we struggled to get through one questions without laughing for no apparent reason. But that type of behavior wasn’t uncommon for Michela. For the last three years that I have known her, she has always had a way of making you feel comfortable. As much as I wanted a little more structured of an interview I should have known better than try and be serious around her.
Michela’s mom noticed her interest in drawing at a young age, and at the time Michela’s biggest interest was drawing animals. She continued with this love of animals until her time in middle school and high school. It was then that she started drawing more people based drawings and fashion art. Drawing fashion art was a way to add people’s uniqueness and individuality to her artwork and pieces. She likes how fashion adds a personality to the people that she draws. This type of incorporation can be seen in the various commissions she does for people.
It's common for people to ask her to do commissions of their own pets and animals, but most people request drawings of people. These commissions range from original characters that people have created, drawings of their favorite characters from fandoms, and a mix of the two. In these drawings, she is able to bring people’s characters to life through her own interpretation.
For Michela, creating art allows her to think about things going on in her life and allows her to get headspace. According to her, she gets to “zen out” and calm her self down from the college student life. As she thinks about these things she is able to then add these feelings into her artwork.
As a senior communications major at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Michela sees herself doing art all the time in the future. Mostly, she wants to keep up doing life stills with people and fashion. She hopes to incorporate her love of art into her future jobs as enters the professional world.
Charlcee Cervantez coc10@txstate.edu
