BECOMING A WORKING ARTIST.

I love this little doodle which I believe illustrates beautifully how we begin our journey……We have plans….and then there is the reality.

One thing is for sure as artists we need to be committed – we need to have a desperate need to follow the creative process.

Mine began when I was three years old – in my Grandmother’s London house looking at my Aunt Peggy’s sketch book…..that was my beginning.

I have always been an animal lover and so……………

The strangest thing is that my animal paintings immediately took off! How unusual is that…..

I was almost immediately picked up by Newman Galleries. in Philadelphia……

Then I was given my first solo exhibition at the Chester County Arts Association…

Quite a few galleries picked my work up….including exhibitions at the Philadlephia and other Zoos.

A poster to raise funds for the tigers at Philadelphia Zoo….and much more

and so it goes…..My almost sixty year career began there……..and I never stopped….

Obviously teaching, painting large corporate murals etc. were all part of my journey and ways for me to make a living – which in turn gave me the freedom to paint what I want to paint………. Remember the first frame of this post.

Rapid watercolour sketch…..tiger with hummingbird…..

My daughter arrives from the States on Saturday and so my next post will be after her visit…talking about the highlights:)

MARRYING BILL REED.

After receiving the transfer to the Philadelphia office of White, Weld …..instead of returning to the UK with Paul Judge as was originally planned, – I met and married Bill Reed!

Timing has a great deal to do with how our lives pan out……however in this case so did love.…..Meeting and marrying Bill Reed was the one time in my life that I actually fell in love….and to this day I feel most fortunate to have experienced that…..many never do.

We were married in the garden of The Beehive – in Chester County. The minister from Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church presided over the ceremony.

My Father and Mother along with Bill’s parents…..and many other family members and friends came together for the celebration.

After the wedding, Bill and I had all sorts of romantic ideas for the Beehive…even a restaurant….- I laugh out loud at the very thought only because neither of us were equipped to do such a thing.:).

The 1973 oil embargo, initiated by OAPEC in October of that year, in response to Western support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, halted oil exports to the US, quadrupling prices from under 3 dollars to nearly 12 dollars per barrel by January 1974, This first oil shock caused severe fuel shortages and huge price hikes at the pump….something very new for most Americans.

The Beehive was not an easy house to navigate (especially to heat) and so we decided to do the ‘sensible’ thing (how unusual) and move one mile down the road to a more manageable house.

In March of 1975 Christie Reed was born…….Jarrod was nine years older than Christie. Here we are together in the garden behind Talleyrand Road.

I just found this picture…of me with Jarrod and Christie …..behind the Tallyerand Road house.

It is at this time that I picked up the paint brushes again.…in fact I had my first solo exhibition at the Chester County Arts Association in December of 1977.

The exhibition at Chester County Arts Association December 1977.

Here we are togetherclearly enjoying sunshine on long Lake Maine…..escaping the humidity and heat of Chester County,

My Next post will be up before my daughter Christie arrives from Cambridge, Massachusetts on Valentines Day…….