My Earliest Memories...

    Memories...  I have many special memories of drawing and painting as a child. I would sit at the dining room table for hours, coloring, drawing, and painting while my mother was in the kitchen baking. Occasionally my brother Jim would come to see what I was doing, and he would show me how to draw a character from the comics. He showed me how to draw our house so it looked 3-D, or how to draw trees. I'd stay there longer to practice what he showed me.
    I loved the smell of a new box of crayons, a new coloring book,  or the blank pages of a new tablet waiting to be filled. I can still remember the excitement I felt  as I stood before the easels in the kindergarten classroom... juice cans filled with tempera paint and big sheets of paper to paint on... I loved that I could paint whatever I wanted to. Others were drawn to toys and other areas of the room. I was always drawn to the areas where I could draw, paint, and create.
    I had an older brother John, and an uncle who were artists. They, along with my parent and teachers, encouraged me. It was just what I needed...