My journey from science to art

After working a left brain field for 20 years it looks like I am now heading towards a right brain field and life. Originally I went into science because it was interesting and I thought it was a more practical way to earn a living than art. I'm glad I developed my left brain, but this right brain stuff is so much easier.

After leaving the laboratory I entered my entrepreneur sister's office where discovered I was a lousy accountant and a lousy sales/customer service person. (I'm not too keen on socializing and talking on the phone.) However I did discover a bent towards designing websites. (Thank you sister)

Then I attended a graphic arts open house at WCTC, a local technical college. I studied the various certificate and program brochures and decided to take a class, fundamentals of design, that was common to most programs as an introduction. That class was a lot of fun and computers were optional. They started you out with cutting and pasting. I really enjoyed doing the various design projects.

So this summer I took an Adobe CS2 in-design class. That class was a killer at the accelerated summer pace but still easier than chemistry, math or physics. I really liked it and learned a lot. I also took a watercolor class with Linda Lubner at the Greenfield hobbyshop, http://greenfieldhobby.home.att.net/ . I really liked learning about watercolor and practiced painting almost every day this summer.

This fall I am taking Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Fundamentals of Web Design which introduces DreamWeaver and Flash to improve my skills. So far all my websites have been designed with Microsoft's frontpage which is fairly easy to use.

This month I attended a demonstration by pastel artist, Bill Gutzwiller http://www.gutzwillerart.com/ during the Southeast Wisconsin Pastel Society's meeting http://www.sewps.com/ at Artist's and Display http://www.artistanddisplay.com/ . It's interesting the way he used contrast colors as a basecoat for his pastel painting. He is a member of the Milwaukee Sketch Club. So I decided to check out this club.

Last night I visited and joined the Milwaukee Sketch club. They don't have a website, however they meet almost every Tuesday , 7:30-9:30, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church Hall, 7929 West Lincoln Ave, West Allis, WI plus have Wednesday and Saturday Plein Aire painting excursions in summer.

Until this year I never knew you could make a living in the art field, but now I've met several people who are making an amazingly good living and they're just regular people.

I am very grateful to my sister and my husband for encouraging and supporting me throughout this artistic journey. It would be a lot harder without them.