My Decorative Painting Journey

I began painting some 38 years ago after seeing a daisy painted on a piece of weathered wood in the foyer of a friend's home. At that time, printed books were limited, and I sought out a class in a local town offering 6 lessons. I was hooked after the first lesson.

My teacher stressed executing design elements with as few as strokes as possible. Strokework was emphasized and after each class I practiced making comma strokes, "c" strokes, and circles with a round brush.

For many years I continued to paint inbetween my children's naps, and celebrating my birthdays by painting for the better part of the day. I learned a lot about mixing colors. The day I discovered that yellow and black make green was an exciting day!

Eventually, there was a tole painting class offered locally, and I signed up. There were 4 other students in the class and we were hungry to learn as much as we could. We painted every Wednesday for 4 years. Our teacher finally turned over the classroom to us as she continued to work in her craft store, and we brought in flowers, fruit, containers, and pictures and conferred about how we might paint them.

Pricilla Hauser published "For Whom the Brush Toles" series and we devoured every word on every page, and were espacially excited with the color step-by-steps. I painted apples, strawberries, daisies, and leaves with several strokes and blended the colors, dry wiping my brush often.

My painting had evolved from strokework to brush blending, and I loved it! There was just one hitch. No matter how hard I tried, I could not paint a rose..............