This landscape painter has not been a joiner of artists groups ... up till now. Because I'm not teaching my Advanced Drawing class at Cuyamaca College any longer I now have the time to join groups and contribute instead of saying "sorry I'm too busy."

One of the application forms asked "How did you get started making art?" Had to stop and think about that!! It's been a really long time... but then I remembered being in grade school and discovering on my own that my black or brown crayon could be used for shading and that shading gave the picture a realistic three-dimensional look. Must have been about 3rd grade that that happened because by 4th grade the teacher was always asking me to draw something for the decorative display in the classroom.

When I was in 5th grade I received a paint-by-numbers oil set for my birthday. I loved it right from the moment I tore off the gift wrap! I forget now what the image was but I vividly remember the delicious smell of the oil paint:) After that any time Mom wanted to keep me busy for hours on end she'd give me another paint-by-numbers set.

It didn't take too long before I discovered to my delight that it was not necessary to paint inside the lines;) Then I wanted the paint by numbers set just to get at the oil paint and the canvas board! Yup, that's where it all started.