Mar 29, 2008

Just a little history

I credit my parents for my creativity. My dad built our house and my mom was a super seamstress. She started oil painting classes in her mid 50's then branched out to decorative painting. She passed the painting tips on to me and we eventually did the craft show circuit in our area in the late 80's & early 90's, painting on wood. We did quite well and won a few 1st place ribbons for our painting.

In 2000 I decided it was time that I take my first drawing class. So off I went to our community college and enrolled in a black & white drawing course which lead to the next semester of color drawing.

At least I wasn't the oldest student in the class! There were a handful of ladies about the same age and we had a blast. I like courses where you don't have to write papers or take tests.

The first semester I had a pen & ink drawing selected for the cover of the college's annual literary & art book collaboration. I actually dreamt of rock walls for several days, seeing the different angles and surfaces.

The second semester one of our assignments was to use several real photos in a colored pencil drawing. I hadn't used colored pencils since drawing maps in elementary school.Since our daughter was a senior in high school at the time, I drew a portrait of her at 3 different ages in a rose botanical theme. I took the finished work into my part-time job and immediately got my first commission. I was in shock!

My first official portrait was a similar botanical for an engaged couple using both of the couple's pictures, as babies and adults. And the girl had just graduated with an art degree. Talk about pressure!

Now I am concentrating on sewing beautiful handbags and totes along with altered jewelry, like domino pendants. I have some of my creations on Etsy as well as eBay. Please feel free to check them out under graymountaingoods.Thanks so much for stopping by!

Kathleen

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