It’s been a great year for Michelle Wie. She’s won twice on the LPGA Tour, and one triumph came at the U.S. Women’s Open, the first major of the 24-year-old’s career. She’s already earned more money on the course this season than any other year, and she still has time to add to that $1.62 million total.
Unfortunately, since winning the U.S. Women’s Open, she missed the cut at the Women’s British Open and missed the Evian Championship altogether while battling a bum finger. Nevertheless, that time away from the course has allowed her to pursue another passion: painting.
Wie has been posting pictures and videos of her art sessions for months now, and it doesn’t take long to notice a couple overarching themes – dark colors and skulls. Now we have an explanation for the gloomy paintings from a seemingly jovial young woman.
“I guess I’m half a very happy person, half a very morbid person,” Wie said in an interview with CNN, adding, “My mom was like, ‘You were obsessed with skulls ever since you were a baby.'”
Wie definitely paints a cheery picture in interviews and with most of her Twitter/Instagram posts, but the skull affinity is apparent in her paintings. “There’s a lot of emotions and feelings you can’t really get out any other way and I’m not a very good poet or lyricist. I definitely feel very in the moment when I paint,” she says.
On Monday, however, Wie showed off her expanding talents on the canvas: a painting without a skull. The dark side is still very much there, though:
Not a this time! Tried a different style of painting…hope you guys enjoy #timelapsepainting gopro http://t.co/7mwjoyvKJW
— Michelle Wie (@themichellewie) September 29, 2014
According to CNN, Wie’s hobby began five years ago when a friend gave her a sketchbook. Suddenly, she had a new way to express the oft-hidden side of an athlete who’s been in the spotlight since she was a teenager.
“When I was in middle school I definitely went through a gothic, emo phase,” Wie told CNN. “I don’t know how to paint happy. I think it releases a lot of the darker feelings in me. My happier ones are always on the exterior.
“There are definitely two sides of me, for sure.”
Related Link: The Fringe – Wie an Art Prodigy
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