If it makes you confused or just plain blank...well so am I. :-)
To begin with, I'll include some things about my background and experiences so you can get to know me a bit better. Having spent 16 years, cumulatively, in Europe while growing up, I was exposed to a great deal of art ranging from very old to very new: mostly of the old master painters, old world architecture, statues and woodwork on a frequent basis. Such quality craftsmanship and talent was my main inspiration and influence, early in life. Mostly, I have developed my skills on my own with little formal instruction. It seriously began with the "Paint by Number" kits I used as a kid. Somehow, my little child's brain figured out how to blend between the lines on those paintings and make them "look more real". I was so proud of myself. LOL. My dad always said..."If you can read and comprehend well, you can learn anything you choose to"...and I’ve been doing just that. Thanks Dad.
The "art" classes I had in high school and college did not educate me with the information about the painting skills and color theory that I needed to paint in a realistic style. I had discovered after-the-fact that they were not actually qualified in teaching the methods of the old master painters that I was looking for. In all fairness, in my own ignorance, I also didn’t know how to find what I needed since I didn’t know what to look for. Mostly I learned to do what they called ‘modern art’ and handcrafted-type work.
Painting in a realistic style is something I had to mostly learn from my own research, practice, and tips from intermittent conversations and friendships with fellow artists, over the years. The most influential being Tracie Thompson http://www.traciethompson.com/ and Greg Biolchini http://www.biolchini.com, both of whom had actually received good instruction on a range of fine art skills. This link https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202743116957205&type=1&l=3266ccd71c has several from the last 6+ years, alone.
My other experiences include having taught a recreational, beginning drawing course as a freshman in college. I have three children whom I home-educated and who are now all serving our country in the U.S. Marine Corps. During that time I taught other home-educated kids how to draw and their families helped my kids in other subjects such as middle school math, high school math and some science.
In July of 2006 I traveled to Bolivia and spent ten days at the Haven of Hope orphanage teaching the orphans to draw. See my blog post about it here: http://dee-deeott.blogspot.com/
In July of 2006 I traveled to Bolivia and spent ten days at the Haven of Hope orphanage teaching the orphans to draw. See my blog post about it here: http://dee-deeott.blogspot.com/
This gave them a creative, therapeutic outlet for their emotional distress and in turn helped the attending psychologist better understand the kids traumatic experiences.
Brenda, Carlos, Hernan and German are some of the children I worked with.
Around the same time frame I began working for a ballroom dance gown designer and former champion ballroom dance competitor, Lyn Wallander. My position as gown decorator included creating creative crystal designs for and applying Swarovski crystals to the gowns and then was moved into gown-painting designs. The link below contains several of the gowns I've worked on.
Since then: I have submitted a few pieces of my work to the Arts for ACT annual fundraiser auctions, where live auction items are auctioned off by a celebrity guest auctioneers. Past guest auctioneers have included Jesse Metcalf, Niecy Nash, Joan Rivers, Tracey Ullman, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lauren Hutton and Sharon Stone. It is a not-for-profit gallery from which the proceeds go to the Abuse Counseling and Treatment center for battered women and children here in my city. I've experienced some of those things in my life as a child and as an adult, so their cause touches me on a personal level. I started making art as a child and found it to be a safe place to express what I was feeling while I was going through those difficult times. I enjoyed passing that ability on to the kids in Bolivia. “Arts for ACT” is a good charity to support. http://www.artsforactgallery.com/index.html
Currently, I am overcoming a four-yearlong bout with vertigo-like symptoms which have made me a medical mystery of sorts, and therefore difficult to diagnose. Recently, I finally found a treatment plan that has caused me to improve slowly, but it IS improvement, nonetheless. In the meantime, I have continued to create art during those four years even though I’ve been symptomatic 24/7 the entire time.
(Edited to add: this is why MdDS)
On my better days, I make art, albeit ever so slowly. Most of the pieces you see posted at the Artist- rising site, dated between Dec. ’07 and today’s date, were made during this challenging time in my life. I feel good about the fact that I have not made excuses NOT to make art, because I really could have made them and they would have been a legitimate, within reason. I had to see if I could do it and when I did it was a tremendous morale boost. Life was not totally on hold for me, after all. =)
(Edited to add: this is why MdDS)
On my better days, I make art, albeit ever so slowly. Most of the pieces you see posted at the Artist- rising site, dated between Dec. ’07 and today’s date, were made during this challenging time in my life. I feel good about the fact that I have not made excuses NOT to make art, because I really could have made them and they would have been a legitimate, within reason. I had to see if I could do it and when I did it was a tremendous morale boost. Life was not totally on hold for me, after all. =)
You'll do just fine. It's easier to use than Facebook, in my opinion.
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