crafting for life

My grandmother, Betty Jo Skiver, is an incredibly crafty woman. When she was younger, she made money here and there by creating stamp designs or selling her paintings. As we matured under her watchful eye, she made absolutely sure to incorporate creativity into almost everything that we did. We started simply by choosing materials and patterns for clothing that we wanted her to make for us. Soon after this, we graduated to helping a little with the sewing of clothes for our Barbies. By the time I was sixteen, my grandma Jojo had taught me to use a sewing machine, draw, paint, make designs for my grandpa to incorporate into his work in the woodshop, and to throw together “clothes” with pins and needles for “modeling shoots.” This ignited my passion for drawing and painting. My first painting was actually one that my father had started when he was about 17. When I was 15, Jojo pulled it out and thought that I should attempt to finish it up. Anyone who has felt the power of a paintbrush could probably understand why at this moment I became an addict. Every close family member has at least one of my grandmother’s paintings somewhere in their home. She has been such a huge role model to me. When my parents started hanging my paintings and drawings around, I thought I would be content doing this forever. By the time came that I started getting pushed a little too hard to compete, however, I started to lose the fever that I experienced originally. Today, I haven’t touched a paintbrush in a few years. But the influence that Jojo has had on my life will never fade. When I showed her my swatch from learning to knit this summer, her eyes lit up. One major goal in my life is to impact someone’s life the way that she touched mine.