Painting Resurrected

People always ask when did I start painting. I don't understand what bearing that has on anything, but the fact is that I didn't begin learning how to paint until I was about 36 or 37 years old... and I really didn't learn a hell of a lot then since my painting (and drawing and design and pottery) teacher was in actuality a sculptor. ::sigh::



I began life as a 3D artist. The world of pottery and sculpture were my purview and I never looked beyond that... Something about beating the crap out of an object and creating a piece of relative beauty, well, that really floats my boat. Ya know? LOL However, when I went back to once more pursue my degree in the fall of '92, I had already developed some problems in my right shoulder and in my back, beating things was no longer an option... It was now relegated to my fantasies as I suppose it should be. So, I had to find another outlet and that was painting.


And, let me tell you, that first year? I produced nothing but crap! I thought I had to be "intellectual" and "deep-thinking" and all of those other attributes that critics assign to art work. Nonsense! One day, when I was "in a mood", I had a quite pleasant bonfire of my earlier work. Somehow I missed just one, so I still have my very first painting... And it's pretty bad! LOL



I was lucky, though. The following summer I discovered a dream world... WORKSHOPS! Wow... What a rush! It isn't that all of the ones that I went to were the stuff of artistic fantasies, but I was (for the first time) LEARNING things and that was awesome.

Also, at the end of that first school year, I was solicited to attend a local university that was trying to repopulate its art department and given a full scholarship. Good things were beginning to happen.







Nope, not so much... Well... It wasn't ALL negative. I had an awesome design teacher as well as full access to the sculpture and pottery classes. My painting teacher and I? We kind of butted heads on a daily basis. I wasn't one of his groupies and he didn't take kindly to that fact. Also, my son's health became an issue and I had to leave school.



Back to workshops! That following summer, I attended a 3 day portrait seminar and discovered a self-taught artist. I then "studied" under him for the next year. He wasn't very good in the design department, but OMG his technical skills were incredible! I learned more that year than at any other time before or since.


The years have passed and there have been times I've not painted and other in which I've done nothing BUT paint. I'm one of those people who have to be in my "happy place" in order to create. I can't feed on the depression and angst of the world like others in the field. I want to bring peace and beauty. We need more of that, don't you think?















So, here are a few of my pieces in a somewhat chronological order.

Hope you enjoy them!