My Story

Hey! I’m Raymond, thank you for popping up on my art website! I would like to share some things about me so you understand why I do what I do. I didn’t always consider myself as an “artist” and didn’t believe in myself to create anything that I would call “art”. My life from as long as I could remember was based off of expectations and standards, if anything I would have defined myself as more of a technical dreamer. The interests that caught my eye were computer science and engineering. I felt like I was solving something and after awhile I seen them both to be like a game of sorts (and oh I love games! At a young age I had a vast imagination and did a lot of role playing.). What intrigued me about solving puzzles was about learning systems and functionality; you’re probably asking yourself why this is important in my art journey? The point of all of that was that my mind being so fixated on the technical parts and my passion was stuck on fun and puzzle solving that I became stressed out if things became too structured and judged. Later down the line I was bored, not stimulated and feeling too judged based off of performance alone. Don’t get me wrong I “could” do the work, but my spirit needed freedom. I craved my personal power. My emotions could not tolerate the route expected of me which took me for a ride I will never forget. In my soon to be cut-off college years I was introduced to a lot of things at once: cannabis, meditation, healing crystals, heightened physical activities, instrumental experimentation, whole new set of friends, spirituality, business trainings, seclusion, creative writing, shamanic experiences and more that changed my life. When they said 2012 was the end of the world it definitely felt that way for my personal world. Through those highs and lows I gained confidence in myself as well as confusion. I began to embrace my inner creative aspects through that confidence. In those later years after 2012 I delved into music vocally (seeking my voice) and then literally stepped into dance. Dance then became a high level passionate form of expression for me and still till this day! Now, let’s skip 5 years down the line from 2012 to 2017. By this time I have relocated twice and this time to a new city, Reno, Nevada. After dancing so much and moving into a new home I no longer had the immediate access to the dancing spots around the downtown area and my emotions were at a low after some personal trauma. An old friend of mine was staying at my house time to time and would bring paints to create these wonderful pieces of work, yet he made it look so seamless in the creation process. He insisted on letting me try; at first I refused because I fell to a point thinking that I wasn’t good enough, but I gave it a shot anyway (no harm done). My first piece of work that I created wasn’t anything too special in my eyes until I reflected on how I felt while creating it. That’s when something clicked, I didn’t want it to be perfect I just wanted to express my feelings in ways that I could not speak through words. Soon after I did that painting and let it dry for some days I did more and after awhile I started to show folks my new form of expression. To my surprise people appreciated it! I then learned to appreciate my art more and more despite what feelings came up while I was creating. The act of painting became fun and soon became a great passion of mine! Painting was a great way for me to cope with my emotional traumas and allowed me to create my own world of visual art. Now I have painted 200+ paintings and continue on my journey. There are breaks here and there, yet it’s all just waves and cycles of chapters in my life.