In
July of 2000, my husband, James, told me that he had a
dream that I would become an artist...he said it was his
dream for me to be in art shows all around the United
States, and become known for my artwork. Up until that
time, I drew all the time, but I had never taken drawing
seriously. It never occured to me that I would
ever get any better or make anything of the drawings.
I never even had any idea that people actually bought
pencil drawings!
The
next week, he went out, and bought me some pencils, a
sketch pad, and an electric pencil sharpener. He brought
them home and said, "Draw something."
I
had some old National Geographic magazines in the house,
and decided to find some pictures in there to draw. My first
drawing after the day James started encouraging me was of
a bird on the front cover of one of the magazines (pictured
on the left).
When
James looked at this picture, he told me it was wonderful
and that I needed to keep practicing!
I did! I practiced every day after that. I drew many, many
pictures of birds and other animals, but I felt a yearning
to do portraits of people.. I thought it would feel so wonderful
to be able to capture a person's personality and spirit
on paper. I felt as though I was just not able to draw faces.
I drew many pictures of faceless people because I was simply
too afraid to risk being a failure.
When
I told my husband this, he said "Well, keep trying...how
can you know you can't unless you've tried?"
So
I did try. One day (in October of 2000), I surprised myself
when I was drawing a picture of George Bush Sr., and I actually
recognized him in my drawing. I was ecstatic! I finally
realized that I COULD draw something that closely resembled
what I was looking at! It wasn't just something I would
have to go to college for (something I had previously thought)...I
didn't need lessons....I could do this on my own!
After this, I decided to devote my full attention to portrait
drawing. I drew portrait after portrait until I was confident
enough to sell some of them.
I sold my first drawing for $25.00 in April of 2001. At
the time, this felt VERY high...and I was so honored to
be paid anything for something I had drawn!
Slowly,
I began to get a little better. People were beginning to
compliment my work everywhere I showed it. It was a wonderful
feeling.
Each new drawing became a lesson. I learned something from
each one I drew.
By
November 2001, the pictures were selling for as much as
$125.00 a piece. I was starting to realize that what I was
doing did have some value after all!
In
2004 I decided to start trying some decorative painting...I
started using Donna Dewberry techniques, and progressed
from there.
Once
I was confident enough with the brush to try something new,
I began painting more realistic and detailed murals. In
February of 2005, I painted my first "real" mural
in the baptistry of our church.
I
was so surprised to see that I could do this, and so encouraged
by the responses from members of the church, that I decided
to paint more around the house. In November of 2005, I painted
a my son's bedroom, all the way around all four walls, and
am currently working on a mural in my daughter's room.
I
was struck by an idea....why not paint the entire house
into a mural? This is my newest idea. I plan to paint every
inch of every wall in my house (within the next few years)
with a mural. This could take quite some time, but I just
love painting so much that I think I might be up for the
challenge! Just imagine every wall being a mural! What a
conversation piece that would be... What fun it would be
to live in a home like that! I hope this dream will become
reality one day!
Hopefully,
over the years, I will continue to improve my technique.
I am so thankful that my husband had a dream for me to become
an artist. He inspired me to do something that has become
one of the most fulfilling of my life.
I
love to read comments from visitors to my site, so if you
ever have the time, please drop a note in my guestbook
to let me know you stopped by! Thank you so much!
Click
here to see Article about my artwork published in the Flatpicking
Guitar magazine.
Click
here to see Article published in the Cullman Tribune.
Click
here to see short clip from a local TV interview (channel
2) from 2001 (requires
Quicktime)...This is a short clip from a long interview
I had on a local TV show in 2001. The clip is not very clear
.... please excuse the poor quality.
Click here to see second short clip
from local TV interview (channel 2) from 2001 (requires
Quicktime) ...Please excuse the poor quality in this video....In
this clip, I was saying that I thought that I would never
use paints, because they are a completely different medium....and
I would "probably need lessons"....how things
change!
Click below links
to see short clips from TV interview from Dec 2005 (channel
2 again)
1st
one
2nd one
My biggest inspiration in pencil art is Mike Sibley!
Please visit his site at www.sibleyfineart.com.
Mike has recently published an extraordinary book,
called "From Line to Life", and I can honestly
tell you, you will find NO other book nearly as comprehensive
as his! I just don't think it's possible. Mike is not
only THE best pencil artist I have ever been fortunate
enough to come across, but he is also extremely generous
in the way he gives explanations about every detail
of each step of his drawing methods. Just LOOK
at the detail on the dog on the cover of From Line to
Life. Is that amazing or what?
I have never found another book that I learned as much
from as From Line to Life. Please visit his website,
see his drawings, and you'll see what I'm talking about!
You will find it to be an extremely valuable tool if you
are wanting to grow as a pencil artist.
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