Expressing Joy Through Painting

After I was born, I did hear very well until I was eighteen months old. Then, I starting to lose my hearing by getting sick. My mom was only a teenager and thought I was just ignoring her. We had a neighbor who was a nurse, and she told my mom that she needed to take me to the hospital as she noticed something was wrong. So, my mom took me to the hospital and the doctor said that I had meningitis. I didn't start wearing hearing aids until I was four years old, and I was not talking very much. 

At seven years old, I went to speech therapy to learn to talk again and learn lip reading.

At seven years old, I went to speech therapy to learn to talk again and learn lip reading. I got approved and then went to elementary school and was in class with children that were like me, plus some of them were deaf, so I also learned sign language. Later, my parents moved and I went to a high school where I was the only one hearing-impaired in that school. The kids made fun of me and bullied me, and the teachers felt sorry for me. Gosh, I was not happy.

The kids in high school bullied me;

Gosh, I was not happy.

Then I went to art school for two years to learn painting, and I was very happy. I got an art degree when I was only seventeen years old! I also worked many jobs. Then I met and married my wonderful and supportive husband of twenty-seven years now, and I started to get back to painting again.

I sometimes teach painting to friends of mine who are also hearing-impaired.

I have sold some of my paintings and I still paint. I go to an art center in Corpus Christi, Texas, and I enjoy associating with other artists. I sometimes teach painting to friends of mine who are also hearing-impaired. So, this is me, and I also have a wonderful and loyal service dog, Bullet. 

Photo:  Wanda posing next to her painting of a dolphin with her baby (which won a Best in Show purple ribbon); Bottom left: Wanda's painting of her wonderful and loyal service dog, Bullet; Bottom right: Wanda's painting of seagulls.