People express themselves in different ways. Some people write stories, some create outfits, make music or even dance. Expressing yourself is a good way to show people who you are. For Paula MacMillan, she expresses herself through art. 

Paula  started doing art when she was younger, and ever since then she’s held onto this passion. 

“I started really liking art when I was like, I dont even remember, I was really little,” Paula says. “My grandma does a lot of watercoloring and I would go to painting summer camps and have a lot of fun.”

Obviously there are many different types of art that people can do. Paula’s favorite type focuses on drawing and painting. 

“I do mostly 2D art, but not like anything super specific in that realm,” she explains. “I do a lot of painting and drawing with like color pencils and markers and stuff. But mostly 2D I havent done a lot of like clay or whatever.”  

Every artist must have a favorite piece that they’ve done. 

“Um I dont know. I don’t do a whole lot of like bigger pieces. I usually do like little sketches and part of, kind of being an artist is, once youve looked at your pieces long enough, you start disliking them.” Paula responds. “But I’d say one of them I did for this challenge thing and it was called “Stronger than Hate,” and I was supposed to represent how hate and love kind of intertwine. But like one can overpower the other.”

Paula’s inspiration comes from simple things that she has easy acess too. 

“Mostly my emotions, but also my friends and my surroundings,” She shares.

Coming up with ideas on what you want to draw can sometimes take a while.  

“Well I have a preference in drawing people. Sometimes if I’m bored or don’t know what to draw, I’ll go online and just find a face and draw it,” Paula explains. 

The time it can take for Paula to work on a project can vary in time. 

“That’s hard to say because I think like, well it depends,” she mentions. “On like a painting, usually a couple of days. But on a drawing, I always lose track of time, and it usually takes a few hours, unless it’s like a doodle.” 

 The longest project Paula has done wasn’t actually a drawing or painting, like what she normally does.

“I think the longest I’ve ever spent was probably, well it also depends on the type of art because, would you consider crochet art?” she asks. “Ok then like 3 months cuz like I did that Harry Styles sweater and that took forever.”

Paula’s favorite thing about doing art is how she can envision an idea and put it on paper.

“I just like how I can create an image or something that might not exist, or like I can capture something that does exist and keep it as that image forever.”

Paula hopes to do art in the future, but she has some concerns. 

“Yeah I really do want to pursue a career in art. It’s just hard cuz like the ‘Starving Artist Narative,’ It just makes me a little nervous,” she admits.