Curious Meanderings from an Artist's World

Allow me to introduce myself!

Though my parents both grew up in East Tennessee just over the mountain from North Carolina, they raised me and my four siblings in a little town in Central Florida. Of course, in those days, Florida was Southern all the way down to just below Orlando. It was an era of "The Yearling", Elvis Presley, cowboys, Tarzan and Cape Canaveral. It was a great time for developing a healthy imagination in a little girl's brain. Especially in a place where the summers were so long.
    
For as long as I can remember
My mom was very proud of the fact that I was an artist. It wasn't something she cooked up in order to build up my self esteem just because I wasn't the "A" student my siblings were. My artist's nature was obvious the first time I was caught drawing with crayons on my bedroom walls.  From then on (perhaps in part to keep my drawings off the walls and out of the books in the hallway shelves) Mama encouraged me whenever she could by buying me art supplies and keeping my masterpieces safely on a shelf in my bedroom closet. 
    

I started my own family early
My "artist" was set aside for quite some time. Oh, I did make things for my home. Crafts. Adventurous forays into creative experiments which not only messed up my kitchen and ruined the dining table, but left me somewhat unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

Then in my late thirties, I found I could no longer resist my own need to produce art. You know. Real Art. Impressionism. Monet, Van Gogh and all that stuff. My husband got a paint set for me, and I was back on track. Before you know it, I had taught myself to paint. I bought books, read magazines, entered art shows, joined art groups and got my work into galleries. All the usual artist things.  
     
Full Circle

Now everything has come full circle. I live in Western North Carolina, just a few mountaintops away from Tennessee. I know how to stretch my own canvases, paint a successful landscape in oils or a portrait or watercolors or pastels. Recently, I have begun delving into the childhood that I left behind a little too quickly. I have discovered encaustics, collage and other types of mixed media, adventures in art supplies free from the usual rules and constraints of traditional art.

So there's no telling where it all will take me. The small artwork on this page is just a sample of this enchanting new world. You are now entering this world, the world of long shadows and the original little pink spaceship. It contains both my serious work as well as the more playful side of my art. I hope you enjoy the ride!

Deber Klein