Can you tell us about the moment you decided to pursue a career as an artist? 

I think I realized I was going to be an artist when I was 10 years old.  My elementary school teacher asked me to draw a huge mural that stretched across the back of the classroom on a roll of white paper a meter wide on what we were studying in history about WWII. It took me several weeks to draw, and I was totally involved in it and inspired by the sense of accomplishment it gave me when done.