Art and Me
This journal is all about art and its place in my life. I had no art experience or training to speak of before art (BA) came into my life. From my childhood through adulthood I never drew or painted anything at all so my background is a big zero. But BA when my two older children were toddlers at 23 months apart, somehow my husband must have figured that our active young son and daughter may drive me crazy. I needed to have some interaction with big people.
I took a basic drawing class from Adult Education at a nearby high school which was entirely foreign to me and I never pursued any further drawing on my own. I went to the YWCA and took another class in drawing and perspective. Later I took two oil painting classes from European teachers with a classical art background which I didn’t fully appreciate until many years later like recently when I am studying masters’ work and visiting the Honolulu Museum of Art. I remember their names from nearly 50 years ago, Gertrude Garrida and Eli Marozzi. An island artist was mentioned in something I read some time back when I was researching Gertrude Garrida and came across her obit and other small articles; she was this artist’s teacher. I saw some of his art and it was outstanding, but unfortunately I don’t recall his name. Eli Marozzi was not only known for his art, but also his large sculptures at a community college and civic centers in Honolulu. I am so grateful that they shared their gift of art with me. In the year and a half total time spent with art teachers in weekly classes, I didn’t realize then, but a solid foundation was birthed in me on composition and painting techniques which unbelievably has come back to me. I stopped my art classes when I got pregnant with our third child. Later when she started school, my work in education took precedence. After I was retired from my career for quite a number of years, my interest in art was stirred up again in 2012. The sequel will follow later on.
This is a painting in my home which is a copy of a Leon Franks still life. I should have taken the photo in its custom frame which cost about $35.00, but would cost $200.00 today. Well, I can’t say I really painted it; it was more that I learned what I learned by copying a master artist’s work. This shows you what you can produce by copying. It was painted about 1965 or 1966 and is still in good condition.
ART with ALOHA 