Bio

I'm going to answer Sandy's comment in a post and save her trudging though my archives (God help her!)
Mr. P. has been "encouraging" me to write something about myself for my art website.  This will get me thinking.  For everyone else you can leave now.  This is extremely boring;-)

I come from an artistically inclined family.  My father is a painter and I've learned how to work with acrylic paints by watching him as a child.  I used to peel off the dry paint on his pallett to get to the fresh paint underneath and I'd play with that. 


As a teen I did some painting and drawing.  I was offered a job illustrating some Christmas stories for a national news paper by a well known local author.  (no, not Brian Doyle;-)  I did the roughs but became intimidated and behind in my regular studies so I declined.  (Big chicken!)  I quit art just after that.

I became a Registered Nurse.  Hated it.  I became a Library and Information Technician and worked for a number of years for Nortel.  (Somebody please put that dieing horse down!)  I was a full-time stay at home mom for 10 years.  No art.

I felt an increasing frustration and great need to express myself somehow.  I would go out with Adventurer and decorate lawn ornamentation in various neighbourhoods under the cloak of darkness.  You know, put a miniature Santa suit on a gnome.  People seemed okay with it as they generally left the ornaments decorated.  We never knew for sure though since we didn't actually know the people.  This worked for a while.  Next I took up piano and learned to read music.  I took to it quite well, but it didn't satisfy the frustration for long.  I took up quilting.  Same result.  I started writing but didn't see that going anywhere.  I took up art and fell in love again.


I think the previous career experiences prepared me well for the art business.  I know anatomy and have no real issues with looking at naked models.  (After you've stuck a thermometer or catheter or your fingers for that matter into peoples orifices, nude models aren't an issue......well, except for the naked Kurt look-a-like;-)

I started drawing with graphite when I was about 40.  I picked up just about every art book on drawing and started studying on my own.  I was afraid to take a course as I didn't believe I had any artistic talent.   I saw a book at the store that had coloured pencil paintings and was amazed that coloured pencils could do that.  As my good friend "Adventurer" said,

"How come my coloured pencils don't do that?"

So I bought a set of Prismacolour Premier artist quality pencils and played around.  I then found Allison Fagan, and took her very informative coloured pencil workshops.  (Well worth the while for anyone local!)  I now knew how to colour, but not to draw well.

I have been taking "Expressive Figure Drawing" classes once a week for the last year and a half at the Ottawa School of Art.  My instructor is Pamela Cockcroft-Lasserre.  She has helped me to loosen up (something coloured pencil artists don't tend to do easily with all of the fine picky details they like to work on.) and be more free with my hand.  I've learned so much from her in such a short time.  She is a truly amazing instructor!

Pamela also teaches an "Expressive Figure Painting" course that I fully intend on taking in the future.  It is my intention and goal to eventually also work with oils as well as pencils. 

I continue to be a voracious reader when it comes to art books and magazines.  I try to speak with artists about their work when I can.  They are a bit secretive I find and sometimes reluctant to give up their knowledge.  At least for free;-)

That's me.