For as long as I can remember I have loved drawing. At the age of 4
or 5 I drew a man, I remember doing it and thinking it was really good.
Oh how I wish I had saved that drawing so I could see it again. My
memory tells me it wasn't your run of the mill stick figure but a man
with actual width beyond a pencil line. He had arms and legs and a body
and head, but after that I really don't remember much about it. When I
was in middle school, 8th grade I believe I copied a drawing from a
dynamic figure drawing book and brought the piece to school. It was done
in pencil and was actually pretty good, I still have it today. It was
entered into a public show of art that students had done from all the
surrounding towns. I don't remember winning anything but at least I did
get to show off something I did. For years I continued with pencil
drawing and eventually took private drawing lessons from a local artist.
It
was not until I was in my twenties that I took up painting, at first
doing folk art style on furniture and boxes and such. That was probably
my inspiration for moving forward. One day I decided I was going to try
oil painting, so I bought a book, some paints, brushes and other
supplies and started teaching myself how to paint. My first painting was
of an Egret in a body of water, it was very dark and honestly I don't
remember much about it. I was going to throw it out but my sister asked
if she could keep it so I let her have it. I painted in this fashion for
a while, never really getting the hang of it. I loved the look of
Monet's work and wanted to paint in an expressionist style but had no
clue how to go about doing that. I gave up for a good long while after
many attempts and failures.
I had been married,
separated and moved to another town when I decided to pick it up again
for something to do. Around the same time I decided to go back to
college to better support myself and ended up studying graphic design.
Because of my major I was taking art classes and loving it. I only took
one painting class and boy do I regret that now. But I learned so much
in that class that it finally put me on the road to personal success
with my painting. I finally feel like I can paint a decent painting. I
have so much more to learn but I am now working at it without the sheer
frustration that I had before.
Once I graduated and got
a job, house, bills and a life I only managed to paint occasionally but
the desire was always there. I was doing good it I painted more than
one painting per year. But I still felt like I was improving and not
going backwards.
October of 2011 I was laid off and
moved and upstate. My lack of employment has actually been a blessing in
the fact that it has enabled me to paint much more than when I was
employed. I set up a corner of a room in the house as a studio and
started painting. My husband challenged me at one point to try and paint
faster, I have always been amazed with people who could whip out a
painting in one day. He was going away for a couple of weeks and so I
chose that time to try my hand at doing just that. During his time away I
whipped out five paintings, which is a minor miracle for a girl who
used to take a year to do one!
I don't try to keep up
this pace now, but I am no longer taking as much time as I used to. I am
growing in my ability and confidence with my brush. I paint almost
every day for hours on end, along with the normal chores of everyday
life. I think of painting as a career, a joy and something I could not
imagine quitting again.
This is the beginning of my story.
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