IT'S HARD TO GET A GOAT TO POSE for a painting...they'll sniff a painting, nibble on a painting, but posing is not their thing. The trick is to sneak up on them and take a picture! Then give them a ginger snap to make it worth their while. Goats have better things to do.
I am often asked how I got started or interested in painting...and honestly, I don't know. A scribbler as a kid, none of my art even made it to the refrigerator door gallery. I suspected early on that art was fun. Although in 2nd grade I did get a "star" for my illustrated "Book of Cats and Ols" ...Well, spelling wasn't my thing then.
When I was 5, our neighbor, a portrait artist, asked my mom if she could use me as a subject for a practice sketch. I, of course, donned what I considered my best dress (a ballet costume) and tippy toed over to her house. She let me lean on the table and watch as she sketched my image. HOLY CATS! I was hooked. Magic happened under her hand!
I never officially went to art school..took some basic classes at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC and in Boston. Got some advice and help too from other artists who pushed and helped me along. But being an artist is mostly about practice, experiment, persistence and challenge.
For me, oil paint takes too long to dry and is too fussy, so I work in Acrylics. But because my lessons were all in oil, I paint using oil techniques.
To use a stuffy term, I am a Genre painter. I paint what I see in my life; people doing things, animals doing what animals do, farms, barns, life. I do pet portraits, animal portraits, the occasional person portrait. I've done a mural, painted on boxes, etc. But I always strive to make people as happy with my images as my next door neighbor made me happy.
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