About Me

August 2012, Norway

I was born in 1975, and made my first oil painting 7 years later.  My mother is an artist.  Her mother was an artist.  There are and were numerous artists in my family.

My mother taught me to draw and paint, from as young as I can remember.  I continued with the practice throughout my school years.  Art classes in the middle school and high school of the little town I grew up in were not bad.  In addition to regular painting and drawing, we got to learn airbrushing, ceramics, stained glass, glass etching, metal sculpture, and more.  After high school I attended a local college to obtain an AA in fine arts.  There I primarily focused on drawing, painting, and ceramics.

I did do a small amount of paid work.  I was paid for pencil portraits of some people, I sold a small painting at a college show, and I used to paint doll faces on wooden balls for a woman that made dolls (The first few batches were not very good, but I quickly got it down and made many pretty little doll faces after that...I had to learn how to do "cute").

I took a long break from art while I obtained a few science degrees.  But I must say, my art skills were helpful (at the undergraduate level especially).  It was no problem for me to sketch slide images in lab classes.  Though my perfectionist tendencies meant that in lab class, I sat there drawing with my prismacolors at the microscope until the instructor kicked out the stragglers and locked the door.  My skills also made it very easy for me to sketch diagrams on the board when I was teaching lab classes myself as a graduate teaching assistant.  That was not enough practice, though, and my art skills took a noticeable back-slide during that time.

Now I have been trying to get back to where I was with my drawing and painting skills.  I typically use pencils (graphite, color, and watercolor) the most often.  Less frequently I paint, with acrylic usually.  Sometimes with oil or watercolor.  Rarely I use other media, but I hope to increase my skill set with time.

Recently my only projects for others have been volunteer.  I drew a horse portrait for my riding instructor, I made decorative borders for a couple of teachers at my daughter's school, and I am scheduled to make drawings for the martial arts school my daughter and I attend.

August 2012.  Candid photo, sneakily taken by my daughter.

Hotel Room Yoga (my attempts at yoga, anyway).