#March Meet the Maker ....... Prompt 1 : STORY
I’m a bit late starting #March Meet the Maker, So I’m going to play a little bit of catchup.
My STORY…..
I’m an artist,
What? That’s not enough?
Oh OK.
Once upon a time in a land far far away…….
Sorry, Ok, I’m an artist……
That statement, although small, actually takes a lot for me to say.
I wasn’t always able to say it but I’ve always been one, in one form or another. I have always described myself as creative but could never quite label myself as an Artist with a capital A.
Art wise, it’s been kind of a slow start for me and one filled with stops and starts. I’ve always drawn and done creative things, but that was somewhat forgotten once I started work. Life gets in the way stuff. When I was made redundant I took the opportunity to go back to school - something I’d never enjoyed the first time around. I’d heard about a Plant and Wildlife Illustration course at Newcastle University that taught the fundamentals of Scientific Illustration…… details….. right up my alley.
Discovering that University life suited me - apart from the lack of money - once I’d completed my undergraduate degree, I enrolled in a post graduate degree. Thanks to my other half taking a sabbatical to UC Berkeley in California and the understanding of my University lecturers, I was able to go with him. I spent 6mths living in Berkeley researching my thesis in the most wonderful libraries as well as having the opportunity to work with a muralist based in the Mission District in San Francisco. I got the chance to help cover an entire wall in a lady’s studio apartment with silver leaf foil- which looked truly amazing. In another apartment we painted leaves all over the floorboards in their bedroom. By far the biggest project was working on canvas Trompe-l'œil designs to go onto the ceiling of the Paris casino in Las Vegas.
http://www.ornamentalist.net/2004/06/paris-ceiling-featured-in-traditional.html
Again, Life gets in the way stuff. I started working for a photographic company and loved learning the different departments, Reception, Minilab printing, Duping …… Does anyone remember duping? I still work for this same company now on a casual basis after more than 20 years.
A complete curve ball came in the form of volunteering at an Australian native wildlife sanctuary and completing a certificate in Captive Animal care. The benefits of this were twofold, I got to work with animals and it reawakened my need to draw.
Once the seed was planted I had to figure out a way to be able to draw all the time. Yet another course was taken……. man I’ve done a lot of study ……. this one in running a small / micro business ……
and here we are…..
So this is just the Readers Digest version of my art story. Nobody’s full story can fit in just one blog. There’s going to be plenty of opportunity to get to know each other better. I’ve looked ahead into the prompt list for #March Meet The Maker and there is definitely going to be too much sharing going on.
So how did you get here?
I’d love to hear a little bit about your journey.
