Tag: Learning how to paint

My Mom is my mentor!

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Passing on the Knowledge

My Mom is my mentor. Without a doubt it is my Mother. Sure, I had art teachers and other artists teaching me throughout my life, but my Mom was there through it all. She was an artist who went to school in N.Y. and she taught me almost everything I know. She had been in galleries and sold art for a long time. I often wonder where some of her pieces ended up. Of course nowadays there is even more to learn. The computer has revolutionized the industry, which it has for so many other endeavors. Advertising, networking, finding work and selling are all a new game. Creating art has also been changed by the computer age, it has opened the door to yet another way to make art.

My Mom was patient, waiting for me to show an interest, but it was more like living in that artist environment that had me soaking up knowledge like a sponge. It was there for when I was ready. We were involved, as a family, with local theater and did many shows. I did makeup, painting scenery, set up lights, sang and danced my way through my life. Both my parents were appreciative of varying different disciplines. Dad would take me to opera and orchestra also. Having my Mom as my mentor changed my life, and I did’t even hardly realize it.

Early Beginnings

My first painting was a study of feet, it was pretty awful and I hope it has been lost for good, I was in the third grade at the time. That scared me away for quite a while, but I naturally gravitated back to it. Now I know that not every piece turns out to be successful, so it is okay. But I hope it still never shows up. I don’t even know why that subject matter was chosen. I remember being a model for my Mom’s students and she taught me how and what to do. That was kind of fun. Back in those days it was sometimes common to barter services and I received voice lessons from a backup singer for Jim Morrison. I learned at double time. I remember asking this person if she thought he was really gone and her answer was a very simple yes.

So, I carry my Mom’s desire and passion, but some is my own and together it makes for some awesome experiences.


Valuable lesson learned in art school?

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This is a tough one to answer because there are so many things to consider when creating. My most valuable lesson learned in art school could be about color, line, composition, value hence they are all important. I will say that perspective is probably one of the best things to know, because being able to understand this will make it easier to bend it appropriately. The same as understanding the measurements or proportions in portraiture. These are important to understand how to use and apply it to whatever your piece is. Turning a piece upside down, walking away to look at it from a distance gives you a view that may show how it needs to be corrected or tweaked. These are all different perspectives. Learning 2 point perspective and more is very helpful.

Gosh, this is a hard decision to say what THE most valuable lesson learned would be. Maybe it is something I learned from Stephen King. To be fearless! I think the ability to be fearless in your creativity is probably the most important lesson. Learn and be fearless!

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Experimenting and seeing are also important as well as the love of learning that has helped me to continue to learn. A valuable lesson learned was to read, read everything I could get my hands on about a topic I was interested in. It is said that if we all learn to speed read we would indeed be very healthy, wealthy and wise. Just imagine that you read all of the Bible, everything about investing, everything about cooking, cleaning productivity, building anything… I am of the mind that knowledge is power. What to do with that power is another question altogether.