1. Most artists have a favorite medium, what is yours? If you work in multiple media, which one is the most enjoyable for you?

If I am painting I prefer oils first then acrylics second best. Drawing and illustrating I love using colored pencils ( I only will use Prisma color) . Recently however I’ve discovered a love for watercolor pencils. They have become invaluable to me when I am out in what I call my “world studio” to draw people and places in my sketch journal. I have found I can make some nice finished work with them. Traditional watercolor not in pencil form, however, I am pretty lame with.

When I don’t have time, supplies or inclination I love playing around in my various digital art programs.
Mixed media has become more important to me; either in ATC form or larger canvas art. My favorite thing is to use flat back “bling” that are typically used in scrap booking and Mardi Gras beads. Anything that will give extra dimension to color and shape in the paintings I use. Whatever I have handy actually. Glitter, wire, dryer lint, paper products, baked polymer clay, beads, etc.

The little whimsical sculptures I do are always polymer clay and painted with acrylic.

2. Do you have any secret shortcuts? I mean, do you use odd tools, techniques, or anything else that isn’t strictly status-quo for your medium? How did you figure out that it worked? 

One of the oldest and most favourite odd short cuts/techniques I use is to blend my colored pencils. Grumbacher’s Fixative is sprayed on something small and absorbent but sturdy ( such as small bit of tightly rolled cotton cloth )to rub over the pencil. It makes effects one sees in paint.  How I found it worked was by being excessive with it when spraying over colored pencil drawing back when I was a teen. It pooled of course and made the color bleed.

3. You’ve sold work before? What was the first thing someone bought from you, that you made? How did it feel to sell that piece? Are there pieces you keep hidden away, or keep for yourself, and why?

Yes I’ve sold my work. I believe my first official art sale was when I was either sixteen or seventeen. It was our local hair stylist in the small swamp town I lived in. She wanted a portrait of her daughter for a memorial library in town at the private school. Her daughter passed away from drowning at an early age; about three or four. The woman  has only this one faded photo of her from the sixties. Nothing else. I painted it in oil. The drawing was painstakingly slow because I was nervous and wanted to honor this child as best I could. I breathed life into her. The first thing my client did was clap a hand over her mouth and left the room crying. It had touched her so much. Later she confessed to me she had almost forgotten what the daughter really looked like. That was truly inspiring and emotionally touching to me. I will never forget that reaction and experience.

As to what art I have hidden or keep to myself? I have a few drawings, mixed media pieces and such that I use for imagery work. To help manifest the reality that these images portray. With some exception no one sees them. They live in my studio on a small alter I have or travel with me in a special sketchbook so I can look at them all of the time.
I used to have some paintings that depicted very dark and troubled times for me. I couldn’t part with them but also I couldn’t stand to look at them. I have since then destroyed those.

(more…)

1. Most artists have a favorite medium, what is yours? If you work in multiple media, which one is the most enjoyable for you?

If I am painting I prefer oils first then acrylics second best. Drawing and illustrating I love using colored pencils ( I only will use Prisma color) . Recently however I’ve discovered a love for watercolor pencils. They have become invaluable to me when I am out in what I call my “world studio” to draw people and places in my sketch journal. I have found I can make some nice finished work with them. Traditional watercolor not in pencil form, however, I am pretty lame with.

When I don’t have time, supplies or inclination I love playing around in my various digital art programs.
Mixed media has become more important to me; either in ATC form or larger canvas art. My favorite thing is to use flat back “bling” that are typically used in scrap booking and Mardi Gras beads. Anything that will give extra dimension to color and shape in the paintings I use. Whatever I have handy actually. Glitter, wire, dryer lint, paper products, baked polymer clay, beads, etc.

The little whimsical sculptures I do are always polymer clay and painted with acrylic.

2. Do you have any secret shortcuts? I mean, do you use odd tools, techniques, or anything else that isn’t strictly status-quo for your medium? How did you figure out that it worked? 

One of the oldest and most favourite odd short cuts/techniques I use is to blend my colored pencils. Grumbacher’s Fixative is sprayed on something small and absorbent but sturdy ( such as small bit of tightly rolled cotton cloth )to rub over the pencil. It makes effects one sees in paint.  How I found it worked was by being excessive with it when spraying over colored pencil drawing back when I was a teen. It pooled of course and made the color bleed.

3. You’ve sold work before? What was the first thing someone bought from you, that you made? How did it feel to sell that piece? Are there pieces you keep hidden away, or keep for yourself, and why?

Yes I’ve sold my work. I believe my first official art sale was when I was either sixteen or seventeen. It was our local hair stylist in the small swamp town I lived in. She wanted a portrait of her daughter for a memorial library in town at the private school. Her daughter passed away from drowning at an early age; about three or four. The woman  has only this one faded photo of her from the sixties. Nothing else. I painted it in oil. The drawing was painstakingly slow because I was nervous and wanted to honor this child as best I could. I breathed life into her. The first thing my client did was clap a hand over her mouth and left the room crying. It had touched her so much. Later she confessed to me she had almost forgotten what the daughter really looked like. That was truly inspiring and emotionally touching to me. I will never forget that reaction and experience.

As to what art I have hidden or keep to myself? I have a few drawings, mixed media pieces and such that I use for imagery work. To help manifest the reality that these images portray. With some exception no one sees them. They live in my studio on a small alter I have or travel with me in a special sketchbook so I can look at them all of the time.
I used to have some paintings that depicted very dark and troubled times for me. I couldn’t part with them but also I couldn’t stand to look at them. I have since then destroyed those.

(more…)