My name is Diego Velazquez and I am an artist. I have always been an artist but I have not always had the same amount of money as I do today. Here's how I became who I am now.
The streets of little Spanish towns are always buzzing with culture, tourists and locals. There are stone fountains in many of them and the amount of people in each town remains the same as in the other towns, the majority of the time. I would travel from town to town with only some money, a suitcase of clothing, my chalks, easel and paint, along with the brushes. I always set up my easel at the end of a street, the top of a cliff, even on rooftops. How I managed to climb up to the cliffs is beyond me. People tell me I'm determined.
I suppose determination is what got me here. I would only paint on my easel scenes of little get-togethers at the cafe, a family on the beach, a goat in the mountains. I was good but it was difficult to sell my paintings. I tried selling them on the street... even at the markets. I made a bit of money but only sold a few paintings. I just wasn't getting what I wanted.
Sometimes I used my chalk; I chose an empty piece of pavement and started drawing. I mostly did the same as before (painted the scene around me) and people walked by and smiled. I kept going like this and my paintings grew larger and larger until I came to the decision to paint something huge. Something massive. Something that was going to blow peoples' minds.
I thought that since I was going to do something special, I was going to do it in my favorite place. I took the bus to Ercos, where I was born. It is a beautiful small town in the mountains. Ercos has a reputation for its beauty and tourists often come and visit here. I found the biggest bit of pavement that wasn't over-populated and took out my chalk. I re-created a picture of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Hours and people went by and I kept drawing. It was a sunny summer day but there was a breeze. I was halfway done when people started to throw coins onto my picture. I didn't look up, but I smiled and was extremely encouraged. I drew a circle and wrote "Gracias" under it and that's where the coins landed.
I relaxed when I was finished. It all happened so fast. An art dealer came and asked to see my paintings. I took him to my house and showed him around; he found my work highly impressive. Half a year went by and now I have my own studio and most of my paintings are in the Spanish museums.
