My first art teacher was actually my mother.  She gave me a pencil as soon as I could hold it.  When I was trying to draw things as a child, and didn’t know how, she’d demonstrate.  I remember clearly her showing me how to make a kitten look young, instead of like an adult cat.

Looking back over my work, and rediscovering my mother’s artwork when I was an adult, I was surprised by the similarities.  Much use of design in the subject and background is present in both our works.  It makes me wonder, if that’s because of her influence in my art instruction…or is there a type of genetic aesthetic tendency?  Does anyone else see this happen?

I”d post pictures of my mother’s early artwork as a demonstration, sadly, though, due to an infestation of bedbugs where they were being stored, the artwork had to be discarded.  A shame, I would have liked to keep some for the memories.

But as I do my current work, I see once again, I’m returning to design motifs.  Here’s an example of what I did in the past.  This drawing was done approximately 30 years ago

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