This
is my life.
I'm
(loosely) based in Tallahassee, Florida, although I grew up in West
Palm Beach, and I visit and work there frequently. I was Formally
Trained (meaning I showed my face in a few classes) at the Florida
State University, within their Department of Visual Art and Dance.
They gave me, perhaps foolishly, a Bachelor of Science degree in
Studio Art, with a minor in Nothing. It is mounted on an unwieldy
plaque at home and I even have an extra copy in case I lose it.
I
spent a lot of time alone as a child and taught myself extensive
lessons in graphic design and desktop publishing. It allowed me
to attain positions of authority on high school publication teams
like yearbook and litmag, which helped me get into "a good
college." (Florida State's not a bad college.) At the very
least it kept me out of trouble during high school, or worse, the
band.
I
spent two years in college before I decided it was okay to major
in art. During those two years, I (unintentionally) enrolled in
at least one class in almost every department at the university.
As a result, I'm poorly-versed in everything from meteorology to
fiction writing to the Italian language to coping with death. In
grade school, it was always so important to be well-rounded, but
they don't think that way at college. So it would have been very
difficult for me to finish my degree on time had I chosen anything
other than art.
By
the time I started my art classes, I was of course two years behind
on prerequisites, so even my degree training was slapdash. I learned
the basics of assemblage and pottery and printmaking and some "experimental"
art, but found that my interests lay mainly in drawing and painting.
So that's what I do now.
Most
of the professional work you'll see from me is done in various versions
of Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop/Imageready. Most of the fine
art is done in oil on canvas. But since my friend Njicki helped
me pick out acrylic paints and explained to me the finer points
of how they smell bad, I've found a satisfactory level of success
in using them.
I've
already learned that the life of a working artist is not an especially
lucrative one, but I don't mind. As long as I'm able to make rent
with the money I earn painting commissions and designing websites,
I'm not going to panic. Things have a way of working themselves
out. And when they don't, they usually give way to something more
interesting. That's how I wound up doing art in the first place.
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