Growing up and being passionate about something for so long is a very special thing to be able to do. Senior Emelie Palmer has that passion with art.

Palmer became interested in art and started creating ever since she was young. She discovered her natural aptitude for art and has been continuing to pursue art ever since.

“I have always done art and stuff ever since I was a kid. I don’t remember being a child because that was so long ago, but apparently, my parents thought I had a natural aptitude for art. They complimented my art and framed my paintings when I was younger,” Palmer said.

Palmer is currently in five art classes this semester: Art History, Portfolio I, Ceramics I, Painting I, and Drawing II. Second semester she will be taking 3D-Design, Painting II, Portfolio II, and Painting II. Being in various art classes lets her experiment with many different forms of art.

“Art allows you to do a lot of things. It’s like you’re cultivating yourself, whereas a lot of people cultivate themselves while doing sports. That’s what keeps their mind and body going. Art is like that, where it’s more like a mind cultivation than a body; although carpel tunnel is a thing and it hurts,” Palmer said.

Palmer has been creating art for years now and still loves going back to just the classic pen and paper.

“I don’t really have a favorite style of art anymore, but I have been doing a lot of experimenting with water colors and ceramics recently. I still really like just going back to ink and paper. It’s just what I started out doing so that’s a good home base for me,” Palmer said.

She usually finds inspiration in the spur of the moment. Many times, she finds inspiration on the drive back from work. Recently in one of her pieces she drew a plastic bag with legs because of her drive home from the night before. A plastic bag flew across the street which made her slam on her brakes thinking it was some type of animal.

“A lot of things I create are because when I drive home from work at night I’m sleep deprived and still have children screaming in my head from work (at daycare at a gym.) It also helps working with children because they still have that weird kind of thing that kids have where they’ll walk up to you and say something where you wonder where in the world did you get that?” Palmer said.

One of Palmer’s favorite pieces that she has created was a sketch from freshman year.

“Well, I have pieces I have had fun making in the process, pieces where I was proud I achieved, and pieces that took a really long time and I’m really proud I didn’t end up killing it. There was this sketch I did in freshman year of this girl going into a portal and that piece I’m really proud of because at that point I was entirely self-taught, I am still pretty much entirely self-taught, but at that point I hadn’t been in any art classes at school before. It came out really good and I don’t know how I did it because there was no sketching beforehand, it was just me, a pen, and paper,”   Palmer said.

Palmer’s mom posted some of her art pieces on her Facebook page. She received some responses off of the picture.

“My mom posted it on her Facebook page as moms do and one of her friends asked if she could get it as a tattoo,” Palmer said.

Her piece showed above is inspired from her mom’s and brother’s taekwondo studio.

“The character is just a character in a story line I had that I am kind of writing but not at the moment, but the background is the taekwondo dojo my mom and little brother go to,” Palmer said.

Palmer plans on continuing to pursue art in the future and will be attending Bethany College next fall. She will be majoring in illustration and hopes to be a freelance illustrator.