Why art?

I'm a first time blogger...and if you give me the option to choose  color, I'll choose green.  Give me the option to choose size, I chose larger.  My point being....and I do have one.........it's all about being a visual person; noticing the color of the leaves when the sun shines through them, seeing the dog's eyelashes shadow the multicolored iris of her large soulful eyes.  Oh, and yeah.......seeing the lint on the carpet...well there's another name for that, but I won't go there.  This could in part have something to do with my style.  My brand of "realism", my attention to detail, and my sometimes rebellious attempt at expressionism.   So, here we go......

I'll start by talking about this oil I did a while ago.  It's a 24"x18" deep gallery wrap canvas.  I almost exclusively use gallery wrapped canvases.  

A friend of mine took a lot of fabulous photos of my puppy when he was almost a year old....lying on the red pillows.  I loved the colors and most of all loved my puppy...I was in love with this beautiful dog and painting him was pure joy.  If you would like to buy an enhanced giclee, it's yours!  

Why art?  I'm an artist.  Have been from the time I was.....well let me give you the shortened version...I was a shy and lonely young teenager when my parents moved me from Cincinnati to Chicago the summer before my freshman year of high school.  It was actually during that year that I discovered the Art Institute of Chicago.  I'd catch a train every weekend just to haunt the galleries.  It was free back then, and I'd do anything to get out of the house.  I discovered that the school had a summer program in Aspen Colorado for high school kids...a light came on....  I had to "apply"... what's a "portfolio"?

I would do anything........

there was the gravitational pull.....there was no resistance.  My guilt ridden working  mother let me buy pencils, charcoal, water colors and drawing pads.   Hours, days, weeks and months later I emerged from the basement with.............drum roll...........

ART.

My first portfolio!

Even after the trip to Aspen I spent every evening working into the wee hours of the night painting and drawing. (If I had only spent half that time on math homework)   I'd sit outside drawing the trees I loved....every branch, every leaf.  I love trees.  Big leafy trees in every shade of green.  

As a child I loved to climb them....sit in them and stare at the sun filtering through the branches, a breeze blowing the leaves...