Leah Sowell at Little Blue Wagon Art

All my life I knew I was an artist.  The realization began with my very first doodles as a toddler, and only grew stronger with each year that passed.  In elementary school I created elaborate drawings of people, mountains and animals far beyond the normal abilities of my age group.  It was effortless for me.  In high school I was accepted into the Art Honor Society a full year early, when I was only a freshman.  By the time I graduated from Bend Senior High School in 2001 I had lettered in art more than once and graduated with high honors in fine art.

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Unfortunately, my mother had also died that year, and I became too concerned with my own survival to focus on my art.  It slipped to the wayside, and it was many years before I decided to go back to school for it.  I earned my bachelor's degree in fine art at Oregon State University in 2013.  I had plans to kick start my art career as soon as I graduated, but then once again life got in the way, in the form of severe medical issues and a series of devastating life events.  As before, I saw my creativity sidelined, only this time I decided to give up.  I would donate my art supplies and be something else, anything but an artist!  I loaded my supplies into my car on no fewer than three separate occasions - and never had the heart to follow through with my plan.  Regret held me back.  My art supplies sat untouched but not abandoned.

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Something broke loose with the pandemic in 2020.  I found myself stuck in my tiny Eugene studio apartment during lockdown, suddenly unemployed and wondering what had become of our world and my own life.