Four years ago I decided to start painting, and I did. And then, I kept on painting.
That’s the short story. I have always been a doodler. As a kid, I used to draw caricatures of adults who were mean, including my bus driver and certain teachers. I had an excellent art education in public school right up through eighth grade, and then not another art class until four years ago.
The people in my life say it’s amazing that I suddenly started painting, and I would agree. It has come to me as a happy surprise.
Or is it really a surprise? Art, music, and theater were all passions when I was a child and teenager. It’s something I put away when other things became more prominent in my life, like figuring out how to support myself. When I was a child and teenager, the adults in my life gave mixed messages about a career in the arts so I compromised by earning a bachelor of science in music therapy. I absolutely loved and appreciated getting a music degree, including immersing myself in practice and performance. Later, I earned a master’s degree in education and have been teaching full-time up to the present day.
Back then, without any formal training in art, I got stuck in a rut with my limited knowledge. Below is a painting from my late teen years. I watered down the acrylics too much without knowing any better. I was also really into calligraphy:
In November of 2018 I took a one-night painting class from a local artist whose work I like, Adam Swanson. He handed us each a photo of a cardinal and said, “Tonight, we’re going to paint a cardinal.” He taught me a lot of things I never knew prior to that evening. Two and a half hours later when he announced we were done, I could not believe it–time had stood still! I even forgot to drink my serving of beer or wine that came with the class. My best friend told me that my cardinal has attitude.
Six months later, I took another class and Adam had us paint a hummingbird. That did it for me! I bought my own paints and started painting from photograph references. I’ve taken a few more classes from Adam and also Matt Kania, all through the Duluth Art Institute. Ever since that second class–shall we call it the Class of the Hummingbird?–I have never not been in the middle of working on a painting during my non-teaching time.
I am inspired by the play of light on things, whether that be indoors or out, and I love vanishing points (thanks, Jon Gnagy!). Architecture has always been a fascination of mine so I love big cities but I also crave being out in nature among trees. My outdoor activities provide a lot of inspiration–hiking, kayaking, bicycling, Nordic skiing and, more recently, sailing. My home overlooks the north shore of Lake Superior, so she is one of my continual muses. My constant goals are to pay attention to beautiful things and to loosen up.
