Welcome to the studio! How did we get here??

Getting to this point has certainly not been a linear route. I've taken a lot of twists and turns, but I think now I'm finally on a path that I was meant to take since I began painting at the age of 10.

My parents created this monster by getting me an old John Gnagy art kit. It came with everything and was the greatest Christmas gift I'd ever received. In it were books on basic drawing (I remember sketching those exercises over and over again trying to get good at drawing shadows on snow), graphite pencils, oil pastels, oil paints, kneaded erasers, brushes, palettes, and charcoal pencils. I. was. in. HEAVEN.

One day while visiting my grandparents on a camping trip to the mountains, which we did often living in West Virginia, I decided to take one of my books, some of the paper, and the oil pastels with me so I could paint one of the Arabian horses in the book. I sat down at the tiny kitchen table in that little camper, and went to work. I don't remember how long it took me, but by the time it was done, that horse looked exactly like the picture. I knew photorealism was for me.

I began then sketching faces of celebrities with those graphite pencils. Soon, the entire family (who had subscribed regularly to TV Guide) were saving the covers so I could sketch the famous faces. I remember getting angry at myself because my sketches usually didn't look photorealistic. I wanted that more than anything!

Fast forward many years, and I'm in University in Tennessee working toward my double doctorates in astrophysics and applied mathematics. In the summer of 2015 when I finally was taking a rest from year-round classes, I wanted a way to make some extra money, and once again, I turned to my painting. I had seen some INCREDIBLE photorealistic paintings on Facebook, and wanted to try these magical pencils that made everything look like a photograph.

So, a wonderful friend gave me the money to order decent pencils and good-quality paper from Amazon. I could barely wait the three days for the delivery, but in the meantime, I sat down with my crappy Crayola pencils and my very thing sketching paper (coloured pencils give the papers a real beating, so you need at least a mixed-media paper) and decided I was going to paint a picture of my friend, Roland Orzabal (we had recently become friends and followers of each other on Twitter). I made a lot of mistakes on that painting and nearly wore a hole in his eye trying to get it right, but eventually I finished it. You can't tell it was made with sub-quality pencils, just proving you don't need expensive materials.

I began painting a lot that summer, and entered my first paining with the Prismacolours into the Ann Kullberg CP Treasures competition. I didn't win, but I was chosen for her alternate publication. I was ecstatic!



I still get compliments on this little guy. I remember studying just his eyes for a solid month before I ever picked up a pencil.

What do you guys think? I will pick up on the history of GlitterCatStudios again in a few days.

Thanks for reading!