MargieCSamuelsArt

A born and raised southern California girl, who is longing to return, I now live in Henderson, Nevada. I work out of my home, with my Golden Retriever, Georgie by my feet and my cat, Toby, hibernating somewhere in a closet. After 17 years of teaching art to kids from kindergarten through 12th grade, I made the transition to teaching privately and for small learning centers in the Vegas valley. I've been drawing for as long as I can remember, and I'm grateful for the many years I HAD to draw daily to teach others how to do it. I became an "artist" through my teaching of art. I love to draw, and always have.

I can't decide if colored pencils (Prismacolor) or Watercolors are my favorite medium. I love them both. That's why you'll see my work done in both. I get inspired by various things. Obviously, art lessons in my classrooms have inspired me to go further with each particular project. I like oil pastels and paper mosaic colláges, too, but for the sake of selling a particular brand or style, I have chosen to work in Watercolor or Colored Pencil.

I got my Bachelor's degree in Art years after I originally enrolled in college. In fact my second attempt at a college education was so late in life, that my daughter and I attended a few classes together! But that is not where I learned to draw and create so extensively. The best teacher I ever had was a lady in Tucson, Arizona who encouraged me to go the distance with my work and supported my opportunity to begin teaching. I got hired for my first art teacher position after submitting my work along with my resumé. The director of the school said she collected western art, and that mine was better than anything she had in her collection! She hired me without a college degree with the agreement that I obtain it as soon as I could.

A few years ago I became fascinated with creating patterns from my watercolor floral designs. I watched every training video I could find and with the aid of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, I've created well over 300 patterns. These can be found on my website and on Spoonflower.com. Please check the links to these in my Around the Web section. Soon I will be offering digital downloads of my patterns for limited use for my Etsy customers.

I encourage you to contact me with any questions, or just to chat. If you're a seller on Etsy, I welcome conversations from you, too. I'm very impressed by many of you fellow artists out there!

Thank you for browsing. I appreciate your interest.