
In that time, I worked with paint, pastels, beads, paper, fabric, yarns...you name it, I played with it. I've always created portraits, but never thought of it as my "art." It wasn't until I started drawing and painting people that I realized how much I was inspired by emotions and the human form.
Then, my son arrived. At that moment, I found my muse. I photographed every moment I could, documenting his infancy, his stages, his cute moments, and his not so cute moment. I was so inspired by him that I painted an image of him in a fantasy world, framed it, and hung it in his room. It is still there, 8 years later, capturing that short-lived whimsical toddler stage. He's frozen in time as a little sprite playing a flute, sitting among flowers and mushrooms.
He became sick of my camera, yet at times, he still likes "hamming" for it. The sporadic moments of him humoring me for a shot weren't enough. So, I looked for other forms of inspiration. I still find beauty in nature. I still love photographing it. And from working in other areas, I can say those images have improved. But after all these years, I have a passion for portraits that has only grown stronger.
Friends and family have liked my images and appreciated my talent. So I was able to turn my lens on them. The images that they liked are more documentary in style. I wanted to take images further. I wanted to somehow combine the artistry of photography with the qualities of art. I wanted to take realities and create fantasies. That's when I entered the world of model and fashion photography, and yes, photoshop.
After my first workshop with a model, I was hooked. After several, I knew I had found something where I could collaborate with other artist: models, make up artist, stylist, hair stylist, and other photographers. The fantasies that we've created are the art I've dreamed of creating for years. After capturing our initial ideas, I come back to my digital canvas.
Some images are perfect as creative images. Photographs capturing an emotion or a story. Other images fair better as digital art. I fought myself about digital art. Maybe because I paint and draw, I felt that digital art wasn't quite the same. I wasn't getting my fingers dirty with pastel particles or paint drips. I didn't get graphite under my finger nails or inhale eraser shaving.
It was inevitable, though. I was bound to find my way to digital art because I work in both worlds. They had to meld at some point.