Biography

Hi! *Waves energetically*

My name is Taleah. I'm twenty-one years old (birthday is Oct. 1988). I moved to Washington state over a year ago with some friends. (I previously lived in Oklahoma and Kansas.) I recently married the most amazing and sweet guy I've ever met, Michael, who is in the Navy (meaning my home will move a few times in life). I work at Michaels Arts & Crafts Store as a supervisor, and I love it. I used to be quite shy, and even though I still can be when I'm around people I don't know, I'm much more outgoing now. I have a pretty dorky, goofy personality and I am usually a very optimistic and cheerful person. I am a Muslim, and even though I'm not the best practicing Muslim, my beliefs are unwavering. I graduated in the top ten percent of my high school class. I sometimes like to dye my hair different colors just for fun. (It's been every color of the rainbow, plus some, though my natural color is dark blonde.) I've even had a mohawk once, haha. I like tattoos and piercings and have a few of each as well. I like to be spontaneous and have fun. My friends and my family are very important to me. I have a twin sister that is my best friend, and a genius for a younger sister.

I've been drawing all my life. When I was very little, it started with scribbling on walls and coloring books, like every other kid. Around the fourth and fifth grade, I actually became interested in art. Being the nerd that I am, I started renting books and video tapes from the library, from where I absorbed knowledge and taught myself different techniques and things. The first actually decent picture I ever drew was in the sixth grade. And since then, I've only gotten better by learning from my mistakes and trying to figure out how to make something look just how I see it. My favorite things to draw are portraits of people. I attended Northeast Academy in OKC for junior high and high school. I took AP Art (Drawing) my junior year of high school and I made a 4 (for those of you who don't know much about the AP Studio Art program, you can visit this link for information about it). I went to Oklahoma City Communtiy College and I am about halfway to an associate's degree. I am not currently attending college though.

My plans for the future are to start going to college again, hopefully sometime soon. I am thinking very seriously about becoming an art teacher (for either high school, college, or some other institution). For now though, I am just working on my portfolio and I am also doing some commissioned portraits for people.

I like reading. I like the Harry Potter series, the Wheel of Time series, the Inheritance Cycle, Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, and many other books and authors.

I also like playing video games. I have or have at one time owned a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS (and a DSi), PS2, PS3, and XBox 360. I'm a big Zelda fan. I also like Super Mario Bros. on the NES, all the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, some Wii games, and almost any FPS games (like BF2) or MMORPG games (World of Warcraft, FTW!) for the PC. LittleBigPlanet is an adorable, fun game that I like as well. I'll play almost anything though.

I love listening to music. My favorite kind of music is rock: alternative, punk, grunge, classic, etc. And some bands I really like are Pink Floyd, KoRn, Bowling For Soup, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Foo Fighters, the Postal Service, Ludo, Weezer, Tegan and Sara the Dresden Dolls, the Bloodhound Gang, and a bunch more.

I doubt anyone really wants to know all that about me, but I thought I'd offer the info anyways. If you have any questions, you may find the answers somewhere else in my site, but if not, you can email me at taleah@taleahsart.com and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.



Photo by my friend JP. 2008.