Heather Jansch wanted to be an artist from the beginning. She loved drawing nature. She was good at art but nothing else in school. Despite that, she managed to get into a two art colleges, Walthamstow college and Goldsmiths college in London. Her artistic style was not fashionable when she was going to Goldsmiths so she was discouraged from being an artist by the teachers there. This was a low point in her life. Sadly, she quit school and went out on her own to make a living from commission work.

She did not like working on commission, it was to restrictive. And she was sad that she had not completed her art education and felt that she was lacking an artistic direction. So, she asked Arthur Giadelli, an art teacher that she thought highly of, what she should do and he gave her some life changing advice. He told her, basically, to find her niche. After that she focused on horses and eventually found her style which was driftwood horses.

She persevered with her dream until she could figure out what she wanted to do. This must have been hard for her being so young and unsure. Especially, after her teachers told her that she couldn’t be an artist because she didn’t fit the mold they had. Her courage in doing what she thought was right for her, instead of giving up or doing what other people might have thought was best for her, is inspiring to me. I don’t know what my niche is. I don’t know what exactly, or even generally, what I want to do after I go through my internship. I know I’m going to have to flounder around for a while before I figure it out; it’s going to be scary for a bit. Courage is something I need.