Wednesday, October 29, 2008

ten years ago...



"Lighthouse"- mural, dining room wall, 1998

This was my very first professional painting. I had no idea if I could even paint, but at the encouragement of friends I decided to give it a shot. I found this image in a little catalog at the home where I was staying. It's the Portland Head Lighthouse in Portland, Maine. A friend gave up his dining room wall for my trial run. "It's just paint -I'll paint over it if I don't like it!" I guess he liked it - it stayed.

I had a lot of trouble with the waves but my sister R was there to coach me through it. Nothing like starting with something easy! R doesn't paint much but she's incredibly creative and has a great eye. She was the assistant on many more paintings to come - her input was invaluable and always easy for this sensitive soul to take. She lives far away now so I have to use the interweb to get her critiques.

Looking at it now, I'm still pretty happy with the outcome - all things considered. Except for the clouds, they bug the heck out of me and if my friend still lived in this house I think I'd have gone over long ago and changed them. :)

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