About me
In 2007 I sketched an image of a woman gazing up at the moon. She stands near a pine tree that is broken and gnarled with age. Beneath are rocks where nothing grows. The emotion I felt while sketching the picture was that of frustration and despair. I had gone through a bad time in my life and, for some reason, felt the need to capture my feelings on paper. The woman is asking the Universe, our God, WHY? Why is life so hard? In the end I decided I did not want others to know how I felt on the inside and so I added the fairy wings to make a light-hearted picture. I traced over the sketch with ink and then painted it with watercolor. I was happy with the result and posted it on Facebook for my friends to see. I was amazed when several people asked if I would sell them a copy! And so I did. This was my first painting: The Fairy Jaid!
Afterward, my life took a more joyful direction. For the most part, I am a self-taught artist. After realizing I could produce illustrations that people liked I began a crash course of homeschooling myself first in watercolor and then, later, in acrylic and digital art. I bought book after book of instructions in each medium and then took myself back to finish my college education, but this time with a degree in art and design. While my time at Towson University introduced me to printmaking, digital and graphic art it was never a substitute for those pearls of wisdom I gleaned when homeschooling myself. It takes passion to teach yourself a craft. A passion that comes from within you, and cannot be gotten from a career "path" in art. To this day I continue to collect and read, cover to cover, anything and everything on the creation of art.
In trying to find my muse, I realize that I am fascinated with the mysteries of the night, finding the velvet darkness to be both frightening and intriguing. Moonlight has a dream-like quality to it that has called to me for as long as I can remember and, as a child, I was always fascinated with the beautiful illustrations that graced the pages of fables and fairytales. My favorite story of all time is The Princess &The Goblin, written by George MacDonald and illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. There was something evocative about those illustrations and they’ve stayed with me for all these years.
My favorite illustrator, however, is most definitely Arthur Rackham. Whenever reading a childhood book illustrated by Rackham I would feel pulled into the picture…pulled into a haunting “other” realm of which he so deftly created with his strong ink work and sepia or pastel color. I can remember sitting for hours just looking at the details within each of his paintings. You can be sure I have several books of his illustrations in my home library and now have added some new loves, too numerous to even list here.
Thankfully, I am now at a time in my life where I can explore the images that have skirted my imagination for decades. I can only hope that some of my illustrations will capture the imagination of another young child. Oftentimes, while propping up a finished painting and stepping back with a smile to say, “There! All done!” I can’t believe that I am doing this. What a wonderful turn my life has taken!
Terri