I decided to share my book introduction just in case it never goes any further than this blog! Don, I know I agreed with your suggestion to wait on sharing in order to avoid unnecessary pressure but sharing here will allow me feedback (or lack of feedback). As the book progresses so will the art examples I include in it. My thought from today - documenting the business progression is just as important as the documentation of my personal artistic growth, the two go hand in hand.
1 – An Introduction, Watercolor
Throughout my life I have always loved painting and creating things, enough to make Art History my college major area of study but not enough to allow art to be a career immediately following my undergraduate studies. That all changed after I realized painting was my way of expressing the things that words could not. Since 1998 I have found myself immersed in the endless ways of developing my art and my career as an artist. I am constantly looking to set new goals, then work toward achieving those goals, and always finding the next challenge leading into a natural progression of development. I am always re-defining what constitutes success as a working professional artist. I have come to accept that my definition is continuously changing.
I first started painting in weekly watercolor classes (early 1990’s) at the local community center with Nordia Kay. She was a successful watercolorist well known on the North Shore of Boston, and happened to be teaching in the same building where my children were in pre-school. The class was a break from my household responsibilities and I looked forward to the 3 hours a week I could call my own. I had never used watercolor before this class and I had to learn the basic skills required in order to handle the medium properly. I loved being surrounded by the creative environment in a studio setting and these classes were a welcomed return to my youth. My first paintings were stiff and muddy (it’s embarrassing to even re-visit these) and it took years of practice to truly understand the translucent qualities of the watercolor medium.
Early Still life, around 1990, 20” x 16”, watercolor on paper
The still life above is an example of one of my earliest watercolors.
After years of practicing with the medium and attending these local classes, I reached a point where I needed to be liberated from all of the “rules” associated with traditional watercolor painting. I felt stagnate and limited, and was fortunate to have been introduced to Jeanne Carbonetti via her book, “The Tao of Watercolor”. Her book struck a chord with me and I was compelled to schedule a private paint session with her. Fortunately she was only a 3-hour drive away.
Driving to Vermont from Massachusetts was easy and it was the first time I had ever scheduled a trip just for myself. Alone in the car with my painting supplies and music, my favorite song at that time was “Me” by Paula Cole.
Lyrics to "Me"
I am not the person who is singing
I am the silent one inside
I am not the one who laughs at people's jokes
I just pacify their egos
I am not my house, my car, my songs
They are only just stops along my way
I am like the winter
I'm a dark cold female
With a golden ring of wisdom in my cave
CHORUS:
And it is me who is my enemy
Me who beats me up
Me who makes the monsters
Me who strips my confidence
This trip signified a huge change not just in the direction of my art (it was the catalyst that led me to creating “A Year of the Full Moon”) but it also was a journey of personal and spiritual growth. It was at this time I first recognized my relationship with my husband was drifting further apart and my art was the one place I felt safe and happy.
I met with Jeanne Carbonetti in August 2003 and she freed me.
