About My Art

The first art class I attended was in 1944 my freshman year in high school. The other students in class were talented upperclassmen and while the instructor worked with them, I being the only freshman was given work to do without much direction. I also spent a great amount of time in a chair posing for the rest of the class. This was my introduction to art. Disillusioned, I quit after the first semester.

In the late 40’s I saw work’s by Grandma Moses in a magazine article. Her paintings were childhood memories of life on the farm. They intrigued me because the little things depicted in her paintings were things I associated my own grandmother and I really loved the style.

I decided to try art again about 14 years ago when my husband and I spent a month in Vermont. We visited a museum containing Grandma Moses’ paintings. I picked up her picture postcards and was once again inspired to do some artwork. At home I tried to draw such a scene in a sketch book and failed miserably.

Shortly thereafter, I found a damaged Folk Art poster marked down to 25 cents. After doing several large versions of that particular scene using inexpensive acrylic and poster boards, I found it too expensive to frame the large pictures so I started going to thrift shops and bought smaller frames and painted pictures to fit them. I was now painting every day. At Christmas my children paid for a series of art lessons at the art center where my daughter is an instructor. I was now going to have my second art class. Not wanting to embarrass Melissa, I chose a different teacher. After I got up the nerve, I took the next course from my daughter who proved to be a much better instructor.

I had found some 5” x 7” frames, fitted them with mats and began painting miniatures all in my own Grandma Moses style. A local art group was just forming and I joined them. Together we exhibited in many of the local libraries. The really experienced artists did large oil paintings and with space being limited, they were allowed to hang only one painting. In each library, my small paintings were put in their glass display cabinet, so there were always about twelve or more of mine on view. Even though other artists were far better painters than I, they were always very complimentary to me. A funny thing, my daughter was so well known that most of them had taken courses from her or knew of her reputation.

Although I did other types of paintings, the majority were in the Grandma Moses style. These usually contained a white steeple church, a large colonial home, a barn, cows, horses, sheep, maybe a grave yard and all with a mountain in the background with a blue sky and white clouds.

In the corner by my signature is a black sheep and on the back there is a stamp which say’s they’re from the Black Sheep Studio, which was actually my kitchen table. I exhibited in a lot of art shows, sold and gave away some to friends and family.

One day I received a call from a reporter who asked if she could come and interview me. She had seen my miniatures and thought them charming. We talked for quite a while at my kitchen table where she took my picture working on a painting. In several of the weekend sections of the St. Petersburg Times, there was a large article about me. The headline read “Palm Harbor’s Own Grandma Moses” the story covering almost half a page.

The librarian at the Oldsmar Library where the reporter had seen my work had asked me to do another display in December, but I had to cancel. I had only been painting several years but had to quit because of arthritis in my hands.

Every once in a while I find something I’d like to paint and I’ll work on it. Most of my painting supplies I gave to my Granddaughter who plans to be an art major in college next year. But I have saved enough for myself if a spark reignites again.