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Nicole Greene revisits her love of drawing after 30 years

At 16, Nicole Greene sat confidently in an exam room to complete her CSEC art piece – a detailed pen-and-ink drawing. But moments later, her teacher walked up to her, leaned over and said, “You are going to fail.” The comment stung. But it was also inaccurate, as she got an A. Despite this, the teacher refused to accept her into her form six art class. Discouraged, Greene never picked up a pen to draw again…until this month. Now 50, she is rediscovering her love for the medium and redefining her creative passion. Greene, an IT and communications specialist, was raised in Trincity and now lives in Petit Valley. She told WMN that, growing up in an era when young people “had to make up their own distractions,” being creative was second nature for her. “And then my mom got me a computer. I coded in BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) and I started doing drawings on the computer – pixel art…I also used to just kind of sketch, but always black and white. I’ve never been good with colour.” She also gave the performing arts a try, teaching herself to play the guitar at age eight. She also recalled working on her art skills during the 1990 attempted coup, which lasted from July 27-August 1, 1990. “I was just drawing portraits of my stepsister until she hated it,” she said with a laugh. “And just drawing a lot of landscapes of the valley and trees and stuff.” She also used her talents to earn money by painting T-shirts and “all kinds of things,” in addition to beadwork, crochet and making jewellery. [caption id="attachment_1167524" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Nicole Greene, a mother of three, felt encouraged to draw again for her children. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption] “We had pine trees in front of the house and I would take the pine needles and make decorations for Christmas and stuff and sell those. I have always, always, always dabbled with all different kinds of art like that. I did lots of stuff craft-wise, and I’ve always had a craft room.” Fuelled by this passion for art, she chose to do it at CSEC level. But little did she know she would face a significant hurdle. “The teacher, she was a big colour person, painting person. She was not a big fan of the pencil or ink drawings, which I preferred.” On reflection, she said the teacher perhaps acted out of concern because those pieces are very time-consuming. “She felt like I would not finish the piece in time and that I would fail.” She was told no one ever passed the exam when they opted to use this art style. But Greene knew she was good at it and stuck to what interested her. Fast-forward to exam day: “I had set up my easel on the balcony off of the art room facing (a building) because I was doing a pen-and-ink drawing of it, and she came and stood over me and said, ‘You are going to fail,’ and I cried. “She didn’t shout, but she said it loud enough that people overheard,” she added. She cried so much she was not sure she could continue. But the invigilator walked over to her and said, ‘Don’t worry, don’t cry. People finish it all the time.’” This gave her a much-needed boost of hope and inspiration and she completed her drawing, proud of her masterpiece. The invigilator “was very encouraging and that emboldened me.” But even after the exam, the hurt and the anger from the experience remained. Months later, when she learnt she had got an A, she was excited to continue studying art and went straight to the teacher to sign up for her form six art class. “She looked at the grades for a very long time and said, ‘No, I don’t want you in my class.’” No reason was given. “I was very upset. I told my mother, I told my principal, too, and she was like, ‘I’ll talk to her.’ She did, but she came back to me and said, ‘If somebody doesn’t want you in their class, there’s nothing we can do to make them teach you.’” Greene was distraught and just quit doing pen-and-ink drawings entirely. “I continued to do art in my own way going forward, but I never drew again. I never picked up a pen to draw again.” Recently on X (formerly Twitter), there has been a trend asking users to “share a piece of lore” about them, meaning: share an interesting fact most may not know or may be surprised to learn about you. On July 7, Greene posted in response, “Ok, maybe just one. Once upon a time I liked art. Preferred medium was pen+ink. Art teacher told me not to do a pen+ink drawing for CXC cos (sic) nobody ever passes those. Did it anyway. Got an A and she refused to teach me in form six. So I did pure math instead. I don’t draw any more.” [caption id="attachment_1167599" align="alignnone" width="744"] Nicole Greene’s post on X.[/caption] The post got over 300 likes and around 20,000 views. Many comments also encouraged her to get back into it. “Well see now you HAVE to start back Thanks!” one user wrote. Another wrote, “No! That hurt my heart! Ever thought about getting a notepad and starting again?” Greene replied, “Lol. It’s fine. I was angry back then but it’s funny now. Maybe one day I will.” She told WMN she was completely shocked when she saw the statistics on the post. “A few people saw it at first, but then I started getting comments from people I don’t even know – and then it got to like, 20,000 views. It was ridiculous.” The support was so vast that she had to plead with her followers later not to try to track down the teacher. As for her own reaction, with a fresh notepad and a black Pigma Micron 05 pen, she decided to just sign her name at first. “I opened the notebook and started to just write my name. I intended just to write ‘Nicole,’ and immediately, I started writing my maiden name, as if it were muscle memory. That’s how I used to sign my art pieces in school. So I had to correct myself and do my actual current signature, which is Nicole Greene. It was such a reflex,” she explained. She has since practised and reacquainted herself with different texture styles, shading and shadows, among other things. “I started back with the basics, testing out the medium, the techniques, and it is very familiar, so I want to race ahead. But there are some things I need to relearn and practise and keep learning along the way…” [caption id="attachment_1167522" align="alignnone" width="990"] Nicole Greene with a notebook of her sketches on July 18. At 50, she's finding new inspiration in art. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle [/caption] But what she is especially thankful for is how this has begun teaching her to slow down or take a pause sometimes. “What it has made me do is create space for downtime. “Anybody who knows me will tell you that I’m a workaholic, I work around the clock, I do not have a good work-life balance. There’s work hard, play hard – and then there’s just me not finding a healthy way to have that balance, which I need to find. “So it helped me make that space and is teaching me patience and is very therapeutic.” Describing herself as a perfectionist, she said she is already planning things she wants “to do and make and print out to be on walls.” Another thing that Greene, the mother of three, did not consider was that her children, all under 30, had never seen her draw. [caption id="attachment_1167600" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Nicole Greene’s starter pen-and-ink drawings to practise textures.[/caption] “My son who went to buy the supplies for me saw what I did and said, ‘I did not know you could draw.’ My children know me to be very craftsy, but this was not something they were exposed to from me.” As she falls in love with the art form again, she said she has long forgiven the teacher. “I know that she would have been acting in what she thought was the best interest of the students. I think the way she did it was horrible, but that is life and pressure, and who knows what she was frustrated about. I don’t judge her.” In fact, Greene added, “I wouldn’t mind seeing her and sitting down and having a cup of tea and…talking about it. I think it would be nice to see each other as humans and not teacher/student.” She stressed the importance for people of all ages to find something that is “a spark that brings them happiness.” “I think there’s a very needed space in communities for art…whether that art is storytelling or somebody who dabbles and draws or (who is) into music. It means there are people that are processing the world in a different way and presenting that to us.” She seemed to be drawing on the lesson of her own experience when she also urged people following their passions not to be discouraged. “Don’t let anyone kill your spirit and don’t give up. Try again, even if it’s just trying again for yourself. Do what you love and what feels right.”   The post Nicole Greene revisits her love of drawing after 30 years appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.