My Art Journey began a couple of years ago when I decided to let go of my web design business and simply retire. The time I was spending working on the websites no longer felt rewarding. But what to do with myself? I had always had a faint interest in art and had fulfilled my creative urges with graphic design, floral design, and various little projects but I had never had the freedom to just explore the different mediums and play!
We were camping in California at a senior resort when one morning my husband took a walk and came back saying he had found a place in the resort for sale that he knew I would love. I said – lets go take a look! This little park model woke up many of the senses that had been buried since moving away from my southern roots. The thought came to me that the porch would make a lovely art studio. I guess I am a very visual person and need to be surrounded by beautiful scenery or visuals in order to awaken my creative side! In a matter of days we purchased our little paradise in the desert and went to work making it our winter home.
I played with mostly acrylics and started searching for information via the internet and of course books and soon decided that acrylics were for me. Now the question of what to paint. The problem was I loved it all!
Famous last words! The one thing I thought I would never paint were portraits! I kept hearing that they were the hardest to paint and it took a lot of skill to paint a portrait. So I avoided them and looked at most everything else. Nothing seemed to inspire me. Flowers, landscapes,oceans had all been painted by artist with far more talent than I had and I didn’t feel that I could even begin to paint anything that would be nearly as nice.
Frustrated I began to search again for the answers I needed to begin my journey into art. I kept running into Matt Philleo’s websites and was immediately attracted to the realism of his portraits. I also loved the soft look of the glazing he used and found myself reconsidering portraits. One thing for sure, it would be hard for my children to throw away my art one day, after all they are paintings of their children!
I started thinking about my artwork as my legacy. My art could be a way to keep me in the hearts and memories of my family and also it could bring to life some of the more special photos of the grandchildren. Finally I thought, what could bring me more pleasure than staring at their faces and spending “time” with my grandchildren through my art? Nothing that I could think of would give me more joy. So that is where my journey begins….