Life in a Nutshell

Choosing Art

There's definitely a genetic predisposition of being gifted with an artistic lien that runs down my mother's side of the family. It may be a curse, I'm not sure.

My mother is a published illustrator and was in her prime, a desirable Western Artist bringing in large commissions and holding one woman gallery shows in Montana.

My grandmother had gallery showings herself after she retired. Her father was what I think currently means a technical illustrator.

The term he was referenced by was "draughtsman."

I can no more avoid my fate, than a Lemming can avoid the sea. But that's not without the concerted effort and diligent pushes from my family to "Please for the love of God, don't study art!" Evidently they didn't want me to head down the same path of familial ruination.

I paid no heed to their beckoning wisdom and dove headfirst into the boggy, difficult and financially unstable mess called the art world. Trust me I should have taken up accounting.

Here are some examples why I just couldn't let it be.

"Fireside" (1995) is a gouache illustration on board, using dry brush technique. Not a computer in sight for this puppy.

My life-long and still unfulfilled dream is to be a (well compensated🤣) children's book illustrator. One of my biggest inspirations is an artist named, Michael Hague. If you get a chance look at his 1981 version of Wind in the Willows. The illustrations are exquisite.

This is Tigger, my one eyed 21 year old cat. She died in 2002. (But I did this piece in 1996)
Good teachers, teach in a way that you can remember the lessons. Even if the subject is as boring as watching paint dry. One of the best classes I ever took was "Technical and Scientific Illustration. Tigger is one such example. We studied scratchboard techniques, pen and ink styles and etching. We would devote weeks to one small project, but it had to be perfect.