| It has been almost two decades since I sat in a classroom staring at my first canvas. This turned out to be my only class in this discipline, and I left college to start a corporate career. Each day for 15 years, I thought about painting. In no deliberate way, my stream of consciousness would arrive back to it. I was not able to shake the desire. I could not stop my preoccupation. I traveled a long personal journey and eventually allowed my life as a painter to begin.
In 2001, I visited Italy and spent ten days painting at the Todi School of Art. Since this was one of the first times painting since college and a huge departure from my hectic corporate day, I was uncertain how wise an investment of time and money I was making. As far as the actual painting was concerned, those initial images were far from a visual triumph. The more significant milestone, the connection to the painting experience, returned and returned with extreme clarity.
Back home in Philadelphia, I sought out classrooms where I could continue to learn. I attended some of the city’s outstanding schools for continuing art education, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) and the Fleischer Art Memorial.
My educational experiences have been especially rewarding under the guidance of teachers who promoted a more exploratory, less technical atmosphere. I was fortunate to have teachers who allowed me to find my own path - Piero Cancellario at the Todi School and Margaretta Gilboy at PAFA. Their unfounded certainty in the success of my trial gave me courage while staring down a white canvas. Whether their heads shook up and down or sideways at my approach, I left their classrooms believing in their most important advice – “Keep painting!”.
In the early part of 2004, my work began to gain some recognition and reinforcement from outside my immediate circle. The connection I had to painting and the subject matter was shared by others. By mid 2004, I made the decision to make painting a more integral part of my life.
In my case, it has ‘taken a village’ to nurture my aspirations. My gratitude extends to Bernie Fernandez, my earliest inspiration, the individual who guided my child’s hands from coloring in the lines to creating dimension and form. Nellie Stone, I think of her gift often. And finally, the friends and family who spent countless hours supporting my dream.
Please enjoy the beginning works of an emerging artist. Stay tuned. |
