My Story
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know I had a strong talent for art. But there was never a time that I thought that I would simply BE an Artist.
I always thought I would find some other way to utilize those skills.
The Empire Strikes Back was a huge inspiration…or rather the Behind-the-Scenes special was. At the age of 10, I thought I was destined to work in the world of Special Effects. ILM here I come!
After I earned my BFA in Theatre: Scene and Costume design I moved to L.A. to pursue that dream.
I had some small successes using my creative talents, finding bits of work here and there in film, theatre, murals, and decorative painting.
In hindsight, I can see that I was always using someone else's ideas as a catalyst for my talents. I even remember a time when I felt the need to correct people when they called me an “artist”. “Oh, I’m not an Artist,” I would say, “…I’m a Designer.” I don’t know why that distinction felt important to me. Maybe I felt Artists created their OWN vision, and Designers relied on the vision of others.
There came a time when I simply needed a job to pay the bills. Now, this reaped benefits for the personal side of my life as it was where I met my husband, and we had our son. But I allowed no outlet for my creative side, believing that my original dream was growing more and more unattainable, and a steady paycheck more and more desirable.
Then, 2 things occurred fairly simultaneously:
I painted a scene from the animated movie “Finding Dory” to be used as a photo backdrop for our employee fun fair. It turned out quite well!
And I began to ponder something.
I thought that if I can create something THIS good without practicing at all...what could I accomplish if I worked on it?
The second thing that happened...quite out of the blue, was a coworker gave me his old art easel.
I accepted it gratefully, but all the while thinking
"...but...I’m not an Artist...I don't paint!"
So! At the age of 43, I bought some canvases, and some student-grade acrylics and began to paint.
