Introduction
As you go into the journey of reading this paper you will encounter the story of a person that loves to create art. His name is Gabriel Santiago. I decided to invite him to a coffee shop. My intention was to make a connection with him so he could be comfortable and able to talk to me about his life. I was interested in knowing what his creative process was. In order to have a successful interview I decided to make a friendly approach instead of acting like a reporter that wants specific details. My intention was for him to feel free to talk about what inspires him and drives him in a day to day situation. My goal is to get to know him better and try and take his experiences as lessons for my life. He is an art teacher, everything he knows he tries to transmit it to others. “Without the dynamism of teaching and learning, the creative spark dies and life becomes empty and sad (Bryan, Cameron, &Allen, 1998).” I like painting so I was eager to listen to his words and stories and see if I could relate to him.
Gabriel Santiago’s life details
I met Gabriel Santiago for the first time about three years ago. The first impression that I got when I first saw him was: “this man does not care about anything, he is a free spirit”. It never crossed my mind that I will be learning so much through him. He was born in Puerto Rico – both his parents are from Puerto Rico also. Right now he is thirty four years old. He started developing his love for art since he was a little kid. He still remembers how he used to love everything that was colorful and different. Every time he got a chance to ask for a gift – birthdays, holidays, and graduations – he always wanted a painting set. With bright eyes he mentions that he got his first professional art kit when he was fifteen years old. “I took care of those brushes and paintings as if they were a precious treasure” (G. Santiago, personal communication, November 15, 2012). He grew up in the countryside of Puerto Rico. He still has the images of the green trees and waterfalls that surrounded his house. He is driven by nature. He adores everything that reminds him of open spaces. He currently does most of his paintings in Puerto Rico and he uses every chance he has to travel and get inspired by the landscapes of other countries. He took advantage of his skills and completed a bachelor's degree in art education; he has his own business as an art instructor. Recently he came to visit some family in California so I decided to interview him.
Story of an interview
Gabriel Santiago is, without doubt, an artist with vocation. He has managed to capture a wide range of feelings and ideas through his paintbrush. It is his belief that art is his life. He spends most of his time creating artworks where he succeeds to convey his emotions and thoughts, which have also been appreciated and bought by diverse customers. His talent cannot help being admired by art lovers.
His ideas come from different landscapes. He loves the elements of nature. He finds comforting and inspiring the sounds of nature – river water running, waves of the beach, birds singing, and best of all the silence of a deserted area. In his trip to California he could not resist the chance to go and experience the unique panoramas of Big Sur. When he described all the emotions that he felt when he went there you could feel the passion with which he paints. He talks about what he sees as if he is living it. He has the art to describe a simple tree as the most amazing object imaginable. For him a tree represents life, the chance of a new beginning, the chance of encountering your own self.
One of the most interesting things we talked about was that he thinks that no idea is bad. All ideas have a purpose, it does not matter how simple and small an idea might be, that idea is important. He says: “small ideas lead to great ideas; you need to start with baby steps”. For him a person who is pessimist is the only thing that can kill his