Tell me about yourself, where you live and your background/lifestyle, and who first influenced you artistically?
(I cannot talk about my background and lifestyle without talking about who first influenced my artistically so I am combining the first two questions.)
It seems to me that I always wanted to draw. My fondest memories of being a child in rural Kansas was playing in the basement of our house. I designed paper doll clothes over and over. I never tired of choosing colors from the "64" Crayola color box. I was in heaven with a new box of colors. We moved from Kansas to Texas when I was in the 5th grade. It was around that time that my mother thought that I had talent and asked if I wanted some private lessons because they did not have art in school. Mrs. Sackett was the high school art teacher and my private teacher. She taught me all the basics in private lessons and then when I reached high school, she expanded my knowledge. Her students were free to choose their medium and to explore. I took art in class for 4 years. Then, my senior year, I found one of those New York art school ads in a magazine. I took their little test and sent it in. Of course I never expected a response. But I did receive one. I was away at a Girl Scout Camp (I was the art director for the summer) when the representative came to my home to invite me to go to New York to school. I was so excited when I heard BUT I was a small scared girl from rural America and just couldn't get the courage to go. (I often wonder what would have happened if I had gone. Would I be a famous artist by now? Would I have come home because I couldn't cut it? Would I have been a designer or an illustrator?) So, instead I went to college in a near by town and majored in art. By my junior year, I changed my major to Art Education to be a teacher like Mrs. Sackett. Then for some reason I cannot remember, I changed my major again to Elementary Education.
I taught school for seven years, married a man who worked in the gas/oil industry and finally I went to work in the same industry 9 years ago. I have taught fabric painting and tole painting to many friends in the evenings after work. My favorite medium is watercolor but I haven't painted in that medium in a couple of years.
What first attracted you to the Internet?
My sister and I had joined Genie many years ago. We chatted on the arts and crafts forum there. Genie had access to the internet but it was just text and being a painter, I really didn't enjoy it. I canceled my membership about 3 years ago when we got a local provider here in Pampa. I became a webaholic at that time. My favorite pastime besides painting is to surf arts and craft sites. There are so many fabulous artists on the web! The internet is one of the best ways I know of to learn. I can use a search engine and find just about anything I want to know about art. The first thing I did on the internet was join Delphi. My sister was on there and was an assistant forum manager for arts and crafts. She is now on Delphi's rubberstamping forum. The forum manager, Leigh Ross, asked me to become an assistant manager and chat coordinator. I now have a painting chat on Thursday nights at 10:00 eastern time. So it was art that attracted me to the internet and still does.
Does the Internet allow you to show your work as you would like: How could it be improved to suit
you?
The only work I show on the internet is some of my old paintings because I don't have the time to paint at this time in my life. Someday, I will use the net to sell my work because I believe this is the best place to get recognition. I still love arts and craft shows but the future is on the internet. Besides being able to reach the whole wide world, I can learn on here as well.
What kind of artwork do you expect to be doing in the next 12 months or so?
I hope to get back into my watercolors this next year but now I am painting large 4 foot displays for an organization in town. It is called Celebration of Lights. We are a volunteer organization who puts up a Christmas display every year in the park. We have over 500,000 lights. I paint a lot of the displays and
currently am working on a set of angels that are 8 feet tall. I am also trying to build our web site at www.pampa.lights.com but haven't transferred the pictures to that site as of yet. Some pictures of the displays can be found at www.netjava.com/~wcm/xmas.htm When I do get back to painting I want to explore pen and ink mixed with watercolor. I love the softness of watercolor. Some of my old paintings can be seen on my Delphi web page www.members.delphi.com/arty48/