For most of my life, drawing was the only form of artistic expression I was capable of. Pencil and paper were the only materials affordable to a kid who grew up as poor as I did. Most of the paper was taken for free from my grandmother's dot-matrix printer and the pencils, no. 2, were needed for school anyway. Because of this, my drawings are almost always personal. These drawings come from family pictures and memories almost exclusively. They often combine the reality of the seen image and an intentional metaphor.