Art and design...

Being a professional graphic designer has definitely impacted my painting and drawing abilities. This is a surprise to me.

I thought I would struggle to hand draw images and paint them using a brush. It has been a very long time.... but to my relief and happiness... this is not the case. While discussing my frustration with my painting abilities with other artists, it was determined that the critical thinking of graphic design has given me a great new set of skills that were not as refined years ago... drawing and composition. Although my paintings are not at the stage of execution I would like them to be.. the images are...

I have an uncanny ability to create and recognize good design and composition in the paintings I am creating. Many of them are from photographs I have taken while discovering the beauty around us... whether it be trips to exotic places, travel to our cabin, or just plain old everyday living... where I have captured great moments in time and am having a blast putting my experience and joy with them on paper.

Taking photographs of events and moments in time is a very creative process and worth the extra time and effort it takes to get the right shot. We used to tease my mom who we affectionately called "Brenda Starr" because she always had a camera in hand to capture every wonderful moment. Now I know why it was such a good thing to do... those moments would be gone forever if we didn't take those snapshots! (To all of the emerging artists out there... take a ton of photos if you cannot sketch the things that excite you visually!)

So I guess my years in the graphic arts and printing field payed off to a certain degree. I come away with knowing that I did grow as an artist even though I haven't actually "painted" in over 25 years!

These are two more paintings I have completed and am beginning to believe that the best is yet to come... I will keep you posted!


Resort


Garden Trellis



As always... thank you for visiting!