I am writing this to provide insight into how and why I, or should I say, my mind, developed into the artistic, machine-like unit that drives me to create, regardless of my current life situation. I am not seeking sympathy or in no way want anyone to feel sorry for me, as I wouldn't change a thing. This will hopefully explain why I am and must be a creator.  I  have been a freelance artist my whole life.  My artistic drive started when I was old enough to hold a pencil. By growing up in poverty, I learned to appreciate things of visual beauty like wall murals around the city and paintings hanging in the lobbies of various buildings, things that took me to wonderful places without having to pay a dime. It became my drive to create such images on paper with a pencil so I learned to sketch and I drew and drew and drew. Every possible elective I could take in school was art and painting. I started continuing Ed at local community colleges for art when I was 10 years old due to the support of an older sibling. Later I realized that writing could take me out of my world as well. When nothing else seemed to be right I knew I could always find paper and pencil to create something fantastic and amazing (even if it was just the back of a document from a local business and the burnt end of a stick I could create art). I became very creative with my art due to such intense practice. I didn't have toys or a TV and without a family car, I did not get to get out very often. Again I remind you that this is not for sympathy, because without the factors that drove me to develop my imagination, and creativity beyond that of my peers, I would not be me.

   Later, this same creativity showed in my writing, yet without a lifetime of practice, my drive was still in visual art. I moved to Houston, to start my adult life, at the age of 14, where I was blessed to Audit a few very influential classes at Rice University. These classes further honed my skills and took me to a professional level. My art made people happy and provided a type of admiration that I had yet to experience. For the first time ever, I had something to offer others, that no one else did, my imagination and creativity. As a young adult, this admiration and awe from the public meant more than any amount of money. I was no longer the poor boy who had no money and friends. By 16 I had a great job with an architectural firm, doing hand renderings, to improve the look of the architect's designs, (I trained the owner in the program that took my job...), at 18 years of age over 4,500 prints of my paintings went into circulation. I worked several jobs that utilized my artistic talent, in new modern ways, that required a creative mind, to create such things. This was the pre-globalization of the internet, and often without a computer (hand-made flyers, brochures, publications, card design, posters, portraits, and murals.). Eventually, the mass acceptance of computers made it possible for my paper publications to be converted into web pages. I thrived on new artistic challenges, and almost always excelled. My experiences as a child that used downtown office buildings, as my primary form of entertainment, gave me an evolved, unique, and uninhibited understanding of how art affected corporate america and the way visual media and art affect the public, and their views. This understanding helped me to provide, not only great art but also utilize my art to grow their business and reputation via creative marketing. Unfortunately the world of digital design has evolved faster than I could self teach and after losing another great position to a computer program, I decided to try my hand at just hand made art, paintings, murals, portraits only to find most of these things can now be done for a lot less with the use of digital design in one way or another. I still create custom murals and creative marketing for local businesses but have decided that is is time to get with the times and go digital. I recently decided to do for myself what I have been doing for others for over 15 years and promote my own business using my art. I am currently building a business plan for ELM Custom art and Creative Marketing. My goal is to combine the publics love and admiration for visual art with traditional, modern, marketing strategy to promote my clients business, brand, or product in a way that customers will not only remember but admire and desire. Regardless of what the future holds or how things turn out you now know the drive behind the art of Ed Mestyanek. Thanks for listening.