PAINTING MY STORY...

(Baby Moonbeam)

Every artist has a story of how and why and where and when they create.  My story started with paint.  Miss Polly, my preschool teacher, introduced me to primary colored tempera paints, a big fat wooden handled black bristled brush, and a large sheet of newsprint clipped to a child sized easel.

(my preschool painting)

She buttoned my 4 year old self up in a smock and asked me to imagine something and then paint what I see.  I painted a blue stick man in a red hat, a tree with a brown trunk, green top, and red cherries on the tree, two purple and yellow daisy flowers and a brown car with orange headlights, all done in outline style.  I remember that painting vividly, the magic feel of dipping a dry brush in the paint and making a colorful swath mark on the paper.  It might have been then that I wanted to be an artist.

(Finger painting of Baby Moonbeam Work in Progress)

My mother was a super sentimental saver and I looked in my little suitcase of life souvenirs but sadly that particular painting is not in there but I found several others from that same year, bold swishy outlines of color, a house, a  blue smiling bear, an angel with a blue wing waving a red hand.  And, I have fondly played with paint ever since then.

(Watercolor Whimsical Faces)

If I were to look at my story in paint today I think it still has a child like innocence and storybook quality.  I still get the same thrill of picking up a brush and dipping in a color and putting it to paper.  I am amazed at the magic it makes.  I am not a professionally trained painter although painting was my means of making a living for many years.  

(Work in Progress)

Today I paint more for personal pleasure than anything else.  I love learning new techniques and ways to use paint and art journaling has become a favorite pastime.  Recently I decided to take an online class Paint Your Story by Mindy Lacefield (this class will be retiring soon).  I adore Mindy's primitive colorful soulful figures and faces.  Although I have totally been unable to master her particular style of painting I have been able to incorporate her techniques into my own softer storybook style.  

(1 2 3 HOP Complete!)

What do I love best about this class?
Most of the painting is done with your fingers!
Talk about childhood revisited.  

(Work in Progress)

I paint because Miss Polly encouraged me to imagine and to try.

I paint because I love seeing the colors form a picture or an image on paper.

I paint because it is like play for me.

I paint my way, 

my style, 

my story.

What is your artful story?

blessings,
Sandy

P.S.  Coming soon to Quill Cottage Etsy shop, Giclee fine art prints of some of my newest paintings