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father is an artist. He would sit down and color with
me in my coloring books when I was a child. But he didn't
just color, he created the most amazing pages I had
ever seen . . . it was mesmerizing. He blended colors,
creating textures and shading and when he was finished
I was in awe.
I asked him to teach me to shade when I was 6 years
old. I always asked him to share his secrets and hoped
the magic he created with those crayons would rub off
on me. Well, the magic rubbed off and the reason I am
an artist today is because of my father and the passion
I have for my art stems from those early days.
A day does not go by that my father and I don't draw.
He is the master "landscape and building"
artist, I am the apprentice "people and animal"
artist. Our passion is the same our styles are
quite different. I hope to have some of his art linked
to my site in the near future.
graduated
from Fremont High School in 1972 and attended San Diego
State University for two years before moving to Modesto,
California. I graduated from Stanislaus State University
with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Although my degree is
significant, the experience I absorbed from the many
art classes was priceless.
My
degree helped me get a job at The Modesto Bee, a daily
newspaper in California in 1982 but my portfolio is
what clinched the deal. You may have natural born talent
but there is so much more that needs to be learned in
being an artist and you can get that through college
or art school.
I have been using the computer since 1984 when the first
Macintosh came out and I have evolved with the introduction
of each new computer-art program. Although special pen
tools and tablets are available for a more traditional
"pencil feel", I cannot give up my mouse. The mouse
is like an extension of my hand now and I use it with
the ease of a paintbrush.
A lot of the whimsical art you see on my "Touch
of Whimsy" page was actually done by me for my newspaper.
As I progress with this website I will start to describe
the mediums and methods for each piece of art. I will
list paints I use, paper, computer applications and
even the number of hours I worked on a piece. These
are generally things I want to know as I visit other
artists' sites. I want to know their little secrets
. . . what number pencil did they use and was that paper
"hot press" or "cold press"?
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For
the general viewer of my site, I will describe the story
behind each piece of art. The Glenn Cadrez watercolor
was a commission piece I did for his wife after the
Broncos had won their second Super Bowl. He had been
named "NFL player of the week" and we were
given special permission to use a Denver newspaper photo
as a reference.
The books I illustrated have their own little stories
. . . even the ones that haven't published. Author Justin
Matott and I are hard at work on our fourth book which
will publish in the spring of 2004. It is a "flip
book" about aliens who have visited our planet
(copyright 2003).
An additional focus has come my way by a chance meeting
on the internet. A portrait
I did of Clay Aiken, runner-up on Fox's hit show
American Idol, was seen by his mother who contacted
me and asked if they could use it on their charity t-shirts.
Partial proceeds of the shirt sales raise money for
the Autism
Society. Another portrait I illustrated was signed
by Clay and auctioned during a Durham
Bulls' game in which Clay sang the National Anthem.
It raised $2,000.00. Three
other portraits followed.
I will continue to support charities in Clay's name.
Updates will be posted at this website along with information
on purchasing items from PKD
Screen Printing in Raleigh, North Carolina.
My
website will continue to evolve and I hope to be able
to sell some of my art, prints, and books in the near
future.
I encourage you to email
me with questions you may have about my work and
possible commission requests as well. --
Laurie
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