I was recognized as an able artist at a very early age in public school. In grade 7 I had an art teacher take me under his wing and he taught me oil painting after school. I was also a very able student and mathematics, though boring, came very easily to me. I actually dropped math after grade 11 (when we had 13 grades in high school, not 12 as elsewhere)
My mother wanted me to be an artist. My father wanted me to be a lawyer. I wanted to be a ballerina. I knew that I wasn't a huge talent as an artist, more a technician actually. I new graphic arts was an option but in my mind that meant doing lettering and product package design for the rest of your life and I would only be happy doing ART with a capital "A". Because we had no money, I started dance very late. I was 15. I was a dance major when I entered University thinking I could be a choreographer. After a year, I could see I would be lucky if I ended up being a secretary. I was taking correspondence courses in commercial art at the same time. I had frightened myself by being impractical and I was afraid that I would disappoint my parents so I decided to enter business school. I had to pick up calculus,stats and economics. In the end I got both an undergraduate degree in business and an MBA. I kept trying to mix it with art by taking Marketing/Advertising courses and Arts Administration courses. It was not to be and I worked at Proctor & Gamble, several large Insurance Companies, at my parent's business. I realized I actually loved things mathematical and when personal computers came out I fell in love with computers and programming. I worked briefly as a Cobal programmer. I was taking a course in classsical painting and drawing when I met an Architectural Illustrator. His work sounded very enticing and he made it seem as though he was earning a nice living. I chucked my job determined to marry math, computers, art and still make a decent living. The timing was wrong. Architetural Illustration as a career for a watercolorist was on the wane, I was no youngster and not prepared to get paid nothing and nothing is what people want to pay you in that profession. I didn't want to throw in the towel after the investment in time in learning Sketchup and Piranesi and whatever else I had taught myself. Many of my illustrations had been hybrid, usind SketchUp, Piranesi and hand painted entourage which had been scanned and digitally cut out. Brian Woodward of Informatix, suggested that I should package my entourage and sell it. I would be the only one on the market selling real NPR entourage. It has been a tough "gig", and I am again in a position where the administration of the business is so overwhelming that I don't get to paint. I have contract workers in third world countries painting to my directions. I have recently added SketchUp training to the roster, being an ATC for Canada and I plan to do some Piranesi & NPR rendering courses as well. I just really want to paint though. Play with SketchUp and paint.
