Been drawing for a long time

So I started drawing when I was 5, I am about 8 years old here.

I would continue drawing from then, I would build a successful mural business in my hometown for ten years. I went to college and was told by my painting teacher I had no color theory, my painting was attrocious. I would quit art for ten years.

So in total, I've been drawing 30ish years give or take. I was still doodling during my hiatus. I just didn't actively grow my skillset or call myself an artist during that time.

I only saw this pic for the first time the other day. It fell out of the bottom of an old photo album of my mum's.

I LOVE THIS PHOTO SO MUCH. There really isn't many of me as a kid, with my art at all. I cherish each one, it's fun to see where I was at with my art. I can see in the photo that I was learning about positioning objects in a scene, I have the draft horse galloping through water. I was totally self taught, everything I learned was because I wanted to draw what noone else was making.

It’s really beautiful, and bittersweet to look at this. The innocense of it all before life and school almost buried the artist in me.

The hope and confidence in my stance and posture, I was so ready to take on the art world in 1988.