Christiansburg resident finds new passion through social media challenge

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - It’s something most of us can relate to, the daily scroll of social media. For Blake Gore, who has a background in higher education at universities like Vanderbilt and Radford, it’s this simple act that landed him a new passion.

“Never had an art class or any formal education outside of high school, and never drew or doodled or anything like that. At 37, I saw a drawing challenge going around Twitter.”

The challenge was coming up with a new drawing for 30 days, but the catch was doing that drawing in a 1-inch-by-1-inch space.

“It was a lot of fun and after doing it for 30 days, I kind of built it into my routine.”

Twitter users also began asking Gore if he sold his pieces.

“People had so much interest in it and wanted to commission different pieces. Whether it was their childhood home, or a pet and it just picked up steam.”

Gore is now able to sell his pieces, but his love for drawing has never been about the money.

“If I was doing it for free, I would still be doing it at the same pace, it’s that much fun.”

The pressure of drawing in such tiny spaces doesn’t come without some stress though!

“When you’re working in a one-inch-by-one-inch space, every little dot, every little line counts so much, so that’s pretty stressful. On the flip side of that, though, it requires so much attention that I really do get lost in it.”

Four years later at 41, Gore is still just as passionate and he hopes to encourage others that it’s never too late to learn something new.

“My advice to people is, if you’re interested in something, just try it out. Don’t expect yourself to be an expert right off the bat, but trust your ability to learn.”

And if you’re willing to trust, that calling might just come in the most unexpected places.

For more information about Blake Gore and his pieces, you can find his website here.

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