I started painting when I was a teenager, now many, many years ago.\u00a0 My parents had taken me with them on a trip to Europe, and I missed some high school credits as a result. To make them up, I enrolled in a home study art class, the first art class I had ever taken. That was my introduction to oil painting, and I was immediately hooked!<\/p>\n
Since my career choice took me in the direction of botany instead of art, my artistic aspirations had to wait. I did sneak in an oil painting class while I was working on my master’s degree at BYU, but that was just a diversion from the grind of my science education, and my art quickly slipped into the background again. Over the next few decades, I would paint something once in a while, like when I signed up for an adult education art class at Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum, where I moved in 1984. But when the class was over, so was my painting.<\/p>\n
Now I am retired. No more botany\/plant physiology. I gave my soul to the USDA for 25+ years, and now I get to do what I want. So last November (2012), I enrolled in a watercolor class. One of those classes taught by a local artist who actually lives by his art. It was a revelation. I had tried watercolor before, but with so-so results. I thought watercolor was too hard. I still think it’s hard, but I see some progress and I am determined to master this challenging art form. It fascinates me and inspires me. Plus it goes a lot faster than oils. I will probably go back and do some work in oils, but for now, I am an aspiring watercolorist. Cache Valley (the Logan Utah area) has a great watercolor community, and I am looking forward to learning from them more and more.<\/p>\n
I hope you enjoy my watercolors that I am putting up on this site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I started painting when I was a teenager, now many, many years ago.\u00a0 My parents had taken me with them on a trip to Europe, and I missed some high school credits as a result. To make them up, I … Continue reading