I would like to share a bit about my art background. I had the normal art classes offered in elementary and Junior High and one class in High School. I've always loved art and had an appreciation for it. As a child I would spend hours painting with water colors and drawing my own creations. My mother saw this as an opportunity to nurture my desire to express myself. She would buy me whatever new medium I was interested in. I dabbled in calligraphy, oil pastels, drawing, water color paintings and charcoal. As I got older I realized my greatest love was drawing, and I would color with colored pencils. My husband also nurtured my love and told me I should watch videos and talk with other artists. At this point I hadn't decided exactly what I preferred drawing, I tried my hand at real life and cartoon.
I met a couple of amazing people later in life that inspired me to pursue my passion. Angel loved realistic drawings of people. She was an amazing artist and I was awed by her talent. (She passed away a few years ago). Her art drew me in and I was intimidated by it. I told her those exact thought and her response was that " I have talent and I need to continue practicing every day. To not compare myself to any other artist, but to work at finding what I feel the strongest about." She was a beautiful soul and I miss her daily.
My other friend Izell is into cartoon art and I felt the strongest pull in that direction. Izell would come over and we would silently sit and draw for hours together letting our combined passion for art spark our pencils with new work. It was at these times I felt a kindred spiritual connection. Here was someone else that loved to draw cartoons as much as I did, someone that understood silence in art is beautiful. We felt no need for words, just the flow of pencil to paper.
I knew my realistic works would need a lot of refining, but I felt my cartoons sparked a joy inside of me. Now understand I have only created one character from my mind and everything I draw is of what I see. I've tried for years to draw from my mind and it never turned out the way I wanted it to. I have embraced my ability to duplicate what I see and I love doing it.
I had my first art show in our small town a few years ago and I sold a few prints and an original. It encouraged me to continue with my art. Most of my fans are children and I love it. If my art can bring a child joy I'm truly blessed. It reminds me of myself as a child and the awe I felt the first time I saw my favorite cartoon or animal as art.
