It was the wee hours in study hall of my freshman year of college. I was studying who knows what while my friend was constructing a paper sculpture in black and white night after night. She kept redesigning; I kept watching. Man, that was what I wanted to do! I hadn't been allowed to take art courses in high school (that's another story), so the prospect of getting credits for making art was mind-blowing. But the course was only offered first semester! I was shy; it took every wisp of courage to go to the art studio (oh the wonderful smells!) and talk to the teacher. Would I have to wait an entire year?? He let me to skip that prerequisite course and join the class second semester for "color." I never did get to take black and white design but have been hooked on painting ever since.
Nancy painted portrait and landscape commissions from 1980 - circa 2007. Then she stopped mark making altogether for 3 years.
Boston Marathon Memories No, I didn't run it. But the 26 mile route came right through my hometown of Natick, MA. When I was playing hopscotch and jumping rope, downtown Natick was the spitting image of the town square in the movie Back to the Future. Kid thru College I'm a transplanted New Englander.........Natick and Framingham and Boston. New England has its brightly colored postcard perfect landscape and The Old Man in the Mountain who lost his nose in 2003. I think I was a regular, albeit hefty, kid. Loved my Crayolas and paint by numbers sets. As cookie chairman, Mom stacked our garage with boxes of mint and formosa cookies for years. I took ballet lessons, went to summer camp, and even took riding lessons in the Blue Hill Mountains. Twinkletoes is a memorable name. My sister and I lived with our parents in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath slab house in a development (now called a subdivision?) Seven years my junior, she doesn't remember our setter mix guarding her pram as she napped. Walked to school. Came home for lunch. Walked back again.
My earliest painting memory is paint by number sets of horses. Turns out you can make fur look shiny by painting small areas of colors next to one another! I was hooked.
I used to hang out in a favorite office supply store. Smaller than a garage back then, said store housed my "toys".... black and red magic markers, compass, ink eraser, rub on letters...loved that stuff. Framingham North High School lived but briefly. If you went there, shoot me an email. Credit Simmons College in Boston with the aha moment of my first wicked cool art class, and with the good fortune of being footsteps to 2 world class museums.
Got a BA in elementary education and minored in art history. I loved getting credit for sitting in a dark room viewing Citizen Kane and slides of great art. Not true for everyone apparently. I still have my old misogynistic Jansen. Very few female artists included. North Carolina Rick and I moved to Chapel Hill, NC where the sky is famously Carolina blue and the azalea color-burst each spring to envelope the senses. I took up watercolorto capture the translucence. Still Moving South Gainesville, Florida proffers a quieter landscape. Green kudzu blankets trees. I'd never seen so much green. I couldn't recognize the seasons for over a year. Gainesville has an occasional frost. We used to turn on the water for fantasy icicles when the kids were little. I painted at night while baby son #1 slept and Rick worked on-call coverage of long hours and weekends at Shands Hospital. Sleeping baby is linked to the About page.
Mostly I have lived in Ocala, Florida. It's here I raised my family and worked as an elementary and art teacher. Teaching art (or teaching anything) is a great way to learn about it. Ocala has seasons. I could feel them during 15 years of playground duty. Located between Orlando and Gainesville, Ocala is equidistant to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. There's a plethora of exotic waterbirds to complement the moss-filled oaks. Paddocks for thoroughbreds and bovines still surround my home. I lived where a horse farm used to be. Every route to my home featured a tranquil landscape. I appreciated its quiet beauty each and every day. Most of my oil paintings celebrate the quiet beauty of North Central Florida. When not painting on location or in the studio, you might catch me dining in a bistro or enjoying live theater. I've also been known to snorkel with dolphins.
Our story begins here where as you know from this website, I switched from painting to drawing. There is much to explore with pencil, pen, brush, ink, colored pencils, etc.