My Passion For Painting

Well I have taken the first step and started my blog. I have titled it "My Passion for Painting".

All my life I have wondered what was my talent.  I could easily see my friends' and my sister's talent, but not mine.  I followed advice of college advisors and took the medical route through school and ultimately became a Cardiology Nurse Practitioner.  I think this was more of "a calling" than a talent or passion.  I am still at it 35 years later.  It is where I believe God wants me for now.

And I was still wondering if I have any talent.

About 4 or 5 years ago, I was asked to help my daughter when she was volunteering for a local art board.  It was her assignment to get more people in to paint at "Paint Your Art Out" and raise money for this board. Everyone just followed the teacher and we all went home with a painting of the same subject. We brought wine and snacks and it was considered a fun night out.  This was offered several nights a week and I went to as many as I could and brought along friends.  Most of my friends got bored with it, or moved on to other fun things.  I, however, was hooked.  I had never painted before and it just amazed me that I could bring home a painting every time I went.

Then I began to want to paint something different than what the class was painting.  But that was not allowed.  Unfortunately, the teacher was not giving private lessons and we do not have an art school where I live.  For the next 6 months I sought out an art instructor. Someone to get me started. Someone to point me in the right direction. I did not know about YouTube or Art DVD's at the time. Anyway I was better at learning hands on with an instructor.

Eventually, I found a wonderful small group of oil painters and an instructor who allowed me to join their group. Some of them had been painting there for over 20 years. I was so nervous, scared and intimidated. I had never bought any art supplies, had never painted with oils and had never painted "my own subject matter".  The instructor was so sweet, she told me to go find some pictures I wanted to paint and she and the others would supply me with brushes and paints until I could get some of my own. They set me up in the front of the class.  Everybody had to pass by my easel to go anywhere. I had no idea what I was doing. I was uncomfortable. But I went back and I brought in pictures of rabbits and started painting rabbits.  Lots of rabbits.

I started reading art books, lots of them. I took workshops. I found out about about YouTube. A friend lent me her Liliedahl DVD Series. I bought more DVD's. I went to some museums. I went to more workshops. I came to art class 4 hours twice a week and learned something new each week.  I ordered art journals and read them. I became Facebook friends with lots of artists and followed their work.

My first 100 paintings, I actually copied from other artists. (I know that is so wrong now.) They never looked like the originals, but it helped me learn composition, focal point, perspective and some brush stroke work. I have recently burned all these paintings. It was therapeutic. And I needed the space they were taking up. I am now painting from pictures I have taken myself.  I have painted outside a few times.  I would like to do that more, but I have a hard time with all the stuff I think I need and it is a burden. I have set up a studio in my house and we get to leave our art supplies at class which is so  nice. So I now have two places to paint.

I started buying art supplies.  Every workshop instructor put out a list of the paints, brushes and equipment they liked, so I bought it.  I would come back to my art class with 12 more color tubes and squirt all that out with the 12-15 other color tubes and I would go blank. What to use? Too many choices! Which brush, which palette, which canvas, too many choices. I thought I needed all that stuff to get better.

I bogged down. I did not think I was every going to learn this "talent".  Was it a talent? It seemed to come so easy to others. Was it another "project" or "task" or "tangent I was off on"?

I read more books. I finally started understanding the term VALUE! That was a huge break through. Then my teacher Victoria worked with me on color mixing and using a more limited palette. I made charts, that helped. Then we worked on temperature (still hard sometimes to get this right).

I have cherished all the workshops I have gone to and have kept all those paintings to use as information and studies. I was fortunate to have studied with Guido Frick, Jo Ann Williams Walker, Chris Groves, Carol Hallock, Barbara Binford Davis, Harold Frontz, Mary Garrish and Victoria Bush. I have observed many talented plein air artists paint at The Forgotten Coast Plein Air Paint Out, including Lori Putnam, Greg Barnes, Hodges Soileau, Mary Erickson, Shelby Keefe, James Richards, Denise Rose, Nancy King Mertz, Larry Moore, Ken DeWaard, Michele Byrne, Katie Dobson Cundiff, Dawn Whitelaw, Bill Farnsworth, Mark Fehlman, Leon Holmes, Hiu Lai Chong, Morgan Samuel Price, Scott Gellatly, Natalia Andreeva, and Tracey Frugoli.

Lately I took on online art class by Mary Bentz Wilkerson and she started from the beginning and put it all together for me. Then she taught me about NOTAN. This too, was very helpful. I have started sketching for the first time (never been a sketcher), and I do a sketch in gray scale and in NOTAN before I paint. It's like I know where to start now. I needed this. I have so much Left-brain in me from 35 years in the Medical field that I needed some left-brain instructions to help me in this right-brain stuff.

I have moved my easel to the back of my art class.  I need to concentrate on my work to get in the flow.  I love my class. It was such a blessing to have found this group. We are like a family. My sister Tammy is in my class!  My teacher is so special to me. I love that she is very consistent with her advice to us all, no matter how long her students have been painting.  "Soften your edges," "where's your focal?" "get your darks in first," "you need some value changes for the focal to stand out," "use the same palette throughout your painting," "put out more paint," "load your brush,""why did you do that," "why did you paint over your darks?"... I can hear her in my sleep.

I now dream about painting. I daydream about painting. I really see nature, now. I see clouds and try to determine how to mix that color.  How do I mix that green over there? Look at those shadows! I may not be talented, but I have found my passion. My passion is for painting!! And I am willing to work at it to get better. As one instructor told me "You need to paint miles and miles of canvas to get your signature!" And I am on my way.

I still get teased about my rabbits.