My art business all started in 1999 I always knew that I had a natural artistic skill but rarely ever used it. I was always told by everybody, “as an artist you are nothing until you are dead". I decided to challenge that statement. I have one saying I live by in this life and it is, where there is a will there is a way, and till this day it has never failed me. So I set out on my journey to create my art and to find enough nerve to put it out there for the public to see what I do. That was scary; when you create art it is so much a part of you that to have someone say something bad scares you to death. Lucky for me that did not happen and people really enjoyed what I did and that just propelled me on further. I started out mostly creating landscapes and over the years have evolved into just about anything. Long as the public liked my work the more chances I would take. Now I have my own business, At First Sight Art Gallery LLC, started in April 2012. I will tell you it has gotten tough over the years of expanding into a bigger business. I always say I am a one woman business from creation all the way to sells. You see I have no one else that helps. I shop for my supplies, I create all my artwork, I manage my etsy store, I do my own websites, I do all my shipping and packaging, all the paperwork, all the promotion, and I go out to the shows paint and sell my artwork. I am 100% hands on and I like it that way. Am I busy, you bet, but I love every minute of what I do and would not change a thing. I had the will and I found my way.
Every piece I create is created from my emotions. Sometimes I have good days, sometimes bad. You can see that in every piece I create. I hold nothing back! My artwork is created in acrylics and that is mainly because I have a chemical sensitivity and had to stop using oil paints before I even started in 1999. I found that out when I was just painting artwork for my own self. I also really like the vibrant colors that I could achieve in acrylics. With acrylic paints you do not have a very long open time. In other words the paint dries fast, in oils you have plenty of time, so I had to go from painting slow to super-fast. I actually enjoy the super-fast better and could do it no other way now. Most of my work is created on stretched canvas or canvas sheets. This is because I prefer to paint on canvas above all else. I have painted on paper, metal, wood, walls, concrete, slate, fabric, plastic, glass, and geez I am sure there is many more. I have painted murals on all kinds of things, car hoods, go carts, and on and on. Nothing is out of the question; I will give anything a whirl. Hard to carry those other type of things around with you anyhow so canvas is much easier for everyone to enjoy.
My mixed media pieces are a newer endeavor for me. I am always experimenting and looking to add more and more to what I do. I really enjoy these pieces. The background of these pieces are made up of a collage of book pages. Most pieces have a theme. Some can even tell what I was thinking if you really look. I love to read and combining my art with books is just a perfect marriage for me. The foreground of the mixed media pieces is done with acrylic paint and then is sealed with varnish. Every piece I do is sealed with varnish for protection.
I dabble in many things: landscapes, abstracts, portraits, mixed media, photography, and even metal sculpture. Metal is one of my newest things. I also do custom work, so I bring to life other people’s ideas. I really enjoy this. You never know where their thoughts will take you and it is always fun. I try to personalize the work to the person in every way I can. Most people give you a general idea and let you go with it but I tend to ask a lot of questions because I want the piece to reflect who you are and so far I believe I have achieved this. I have even transformed husbands and wives into zombies for their painting. Now that was a blast. Haha I told you I enjoy what I do and I have the most fun I can with it.
I have yet to run out of ideas for my own creations, I have so many ideas some nights I can’t even sleep. I have papers here there and everywhere of all the things I want to create but I only have two hands and have a hard time keeping up with my brain. I love creating new fantasy lands they are so much fun. Anything that allows me not to have to follow any rules is my favorite. Who cares if the sky is green? Not me, I feel it is all about the bottom line, and the bottom line is how the piece makes you feel in the end. That is all that really matters. When you look at a piece does it make you feel what you need it to, if it does I have done my job as an artist and I will take pride in the fact that I did it well.
So come with me, follow along my path, you and I will find out what comes next for me and where my artwork will go. I am never sure but the journey is always a wonderful path of twists and turns.