San Diego, CA., me -and my dog, The Afghan Hound, who could run like the wind.

(Photographer R. Forbes. © Smith and Forbes.)

Artist Statement

​

"I've considered myself an artist since my earliest memories.  I love all types of art.  My mother was an oil painter so I was always around art books, pastels, and paints while growing up.  My mother's father was a sculptor.  During my elementary and high school years the city of San Diego, CA where I lived sponsored contests for free summer art lessons. Each school in the city would choose one student's art work to represent them in the contest.  I was fortunate in that my art work won three times. Those art lessons at a young age gave me a foundation for my adult art skills and provided me with my first opportunity to have my work exhibited in a contemporary Museum.  Later, when I took college level art courses, I was surprised to realize that some of the very same concepts that I had learned in those summer lessons, such as perspective, shading, and contour, were same ones being presented at a college level.  I had been given a fantastic head-start on learning about art and how to express my talent with various kinds of materials, as well as working with other students in an art studio setting.  I would like to help children have the same opportunity that I had to learn about art materials and art history."  

​

​