The small town of Allen Crossing, Indiana, has been the place I've called home for all 16 years of my life. That's where I spend hours just 1. Looking at how the wind blows the wild flowers to create a magical 2 of color. Looking at the way insects move hurriedly among plants. The beauty of nature has always been what 3 me to create art. I used to think that artists get inspiration from 4. Then I went to New York and something happened that really made me 5 that idea.
I was offered two-week courses at an art college there. When I took the train to the college for the first time, I had some serious 6 about whether I had made the right choice about coming. I was so used to the 7 countryside. New York, however, was noisy and 8. People pushed past me to squeeze through the doors of the subway cars. Everything moved at such a 9 pace that I felt I had no time to process it all.
Art classes were another story. 10 I started making art, I felt like myself again. Working from memory, I made a series of drawings of natural scenes. "Your images are very 11 and accurate," one teacher told me. "Why not try using brighter colors and bolder shapes and motions?" I followed her advice and was amazed at the 12.
One day my cousin Ken came to see my drawings. "Gosh! These are great! They remind me of graffiti (涂鸦)." He exclaimed.
I looked at my drawings and was 13.To me graffiti was not art, it was
14 messy, unreadable writing on walls.
"Cool," Ken continued. "If you're into art, you should come with me." I followed him to a huge factory that was completely 15 with graffiti. The walls were covered with bright colors, portraits, words and calligraphy-like symbols. What I saw was art not unlike what I had been making. The big 16 was that the artists drew images from city life, such as crowded subway trains and tall, shiny buildings. In every sketch, there was a(n) 17 that reminded me of that first subway ride, only it was a creative one.
Now I know that 18 is different for everyone. What drives one person crazy can be the thing that drives another person to 19. I may not look at the city the way street artists do, but they may not see nature the way I do. I 20 the way the city's energy inspires them. And now I use that energy wherever I am to create my own art.
