Trash To Riches

I grew up in an upper class home. My father made very good money ....by the time I was 18 had owned 3 different cars................(had many assume I was a spoiled rich girl) And yet my parents nor I are college educated. I was anything but spoiled...I may have had material items but they were not just given to me I had to earn them....I may have owned 3 vehicles (at 3 separate times) but my father made darn sure that I took care of them and showed respect or else I'd be walking.......Strict curfew....grades had to be on the honor role.....cars had to be kept clean ...I had to have a job after school( while maintaining grades and helping around the house) I had to pay for a cell phone so my parents could get a hold of me whenever they needed or for emergencies......these were stipulations...rules I was given in order to be given the privilege. I grew up with a strict upbringing.

My father had his own maintenance business worked very hard to build a business from the ground up with a tool box and a truck he put every cent into (didn't start out wealthy) ....I believe this taught me that being successful is up to ourselves its on our shoulders.....if you want to be successful than you gotta put in the time and effort. Hard work, determination, financial planning and a desire to be a entrepreneur was something instilled in me at a young age.

Edit: I believe it has effected my work ethic and determination but not necessarily the artistic part of my art.....just the business aspect. Entrepreneur at heart....

I think so, growing up my family was very poor both my parents never had formal schooling they made little money to support our family of six plus my grandmother which prepared me as an poor artist. No better how tough my life as an artist, nothing compare to the tough life my parents had had.

Absolutely! My father was a French and amer. indian trapper from New Orleans. I grew up in the swamps and marsh lands of south Louisiana. A very poor and rough upbringing but that taught me how to dream, persevere, and appreciate the small things in life. It also placed in me a deep love of nature. Also, I am one of seven siblings.

My real name is Diogenes and I was raised in a large clay jar.

Surely it has. I was reared in poverty on a small Iowa farm. In my thirties I began what was really my first series, paintings of the old farm buildings and one room school house. Even before that I tried to capture the disparity of my background vs my wife's. All this led me to painting family and eventually capturing total strangers on canvas in real environments.

My father was also an aeronautical engineer adn my mother was a district nurse and midwife - so a typical middle class background.
At 14 when I expressed an interest in art, they over-rulled me and put me in the science stream at school. Thus I became an engineer like my father.
They didn't/couldn't imagine art as a career, especially for me.

Raised middle class but blue collar. Didn't care much for the kinds of jobs those in my family had so I went to school so I could spend my days in a cubicle instead of in the weather knee deep in cement or elbow deep in grease. I dabbled in art as a youth but wasn't serious about it. I didn't really discover art until I was in my 40's.

My dad says we were poor, but I never felt poor. Yes, I knew there were people who were better off, but I never felt poor. I grew up on a farm. i had ponies to ride, a pool to swim in and a 150 acre playground with fields, woods, streams and wildlife. Much of my art is influenced by this upbringing.

I have to agree with Joyce, My parents were poor and they came to the US in 1964 from Argentina, my father Italian with my brother Claudio and me seen in the picture. My father was talented bricklayer and my mother a seamstress, they worked very hard never asking the government for a handout. They instilled in me and my brothers the value of hard work. They raised 4 boys, and they purchased homes and cars and helped each of us to establish ourselves. I never felt poor and they moved from poor to middle class with much hard work. As to this having any bearing on my art I would say no as I did not discover art until 6 years ago or so at age 48 or 49.

My grandparents immigrated to America when they were teenagers. Their families left behind perished in the holocaust. My mom was the youngest in the family and married my Dad when she was 18 when he was on a furlough from WWII. After the war, my grandfather brought my Dad into his small junk business that he continued to work until he retired.
My parents continued to live with my grandparents until they died, some 38 years later. We were a multi-generational family. I was given every kind of lesson they could afford in the arts. It was a European attitude to make sure daughters were so exposed. I had lessons in music (singing, piano, writing music, conducting music), visual arts, drama and 12 years of dance.
When it was time for college, I went to an affordable state affiliated university and earned a complete scholarship for my graduate school year. My parents let me move back home until I could save money up for a car and an apartment.
We lived modestly but NOT getting a higher education was never an option. Being lazy wasn't either.

Brought up poor though we owned a home and beautiful land on the coast. Never went hungry but only because Mom knew how to feed an extended family with nearly no money, especially through the winter. I had many opportunities to "better" myself but never the ambition to make the effort. Still cash poor but living a rich and fulfilling life. Money ain't everything.

@Kathleen "Money ain't everything."
SO TRUE........growing up in a wealthy household I was miserable......wealth is nothing ..........a home that you feel safe going home too or a place with a listening ear is something money can't buy. I was a child who had everything other than what I needed.