Who Says an Art Degree is Useless?

About halfway through my studies at UCLA, I changed majors from English to Art. My parents were less than thrilled. I was always a good student with lots of "potential," so I could understand their disappointment. Also, my little brother was fulfilling every Chinese parent's dream by majoring in engineering at a reknowned university on a full-ride scholarship. And I'm sure that it didn't help that my parents were paying sky-high out-of-state tuition. So even though they supported my decision to follow my heart, I'm sure they were worried I would be unable to make a living as an artist, and this was infuriating to me. So the second I graduated, I rolled up my sleeves and proved everyone.... right. Studying art so soured me on working as an artist that as soon I received my diploma, I hefted my enlarger into a dumpster and didn't touch a paintbrush again. Until yesterday.

We had been using our dining room as a playroom for the Tiny Dictator, but it had a half-assed look to it. There were toys in the room, but the bare walls and lack of decor made the area look like an afterthought. The room was in dire need of some color and fun.

Inspired by an article I clipped from ReadyMade Magazine, I decided to transform Benjamin's playroom into a mod orange grove. Doing the painting was surprisingly easy; the hard bit was making that first mark on the wall. After that, it was a piece of cake and a lot of fun.

As you can see, the process was fairly straightforward. No stencils were necessary, and the entire project was completed in the course of one day.

I'm not sure that Benjamin noticed that his playroom was any different, but that didn't matter to me. I was too busy gloating over the fact that I was finally able to put my art degree to use!