"If you ever get really good, maybe someday...I'll let you paint my fence."
This was the comment from a wise-ass
Uncle upon seeing one of my earliest works of art. That powerful statement was like a tiny sliver in my finger that has festered and bothered me for years. I know now that he was joking, but as a small child, it was devastating. I've never forgotten how it crushed me and shattered my confidence.
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What a misfit I was growing up in the land of redneck Mormons. I was raised on a cattle ranch high in the Uintah Mountains of Utah. I was a frail blonde, overly sensitive kid who needed glasses and started school at the age of 4. From kindergarten until I graduated from college, all I really cared about was drawing and painting....It was my escape.
After high school, I had a two year life interruption when the Mormon church sent me to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to sell religion. Sadly, the only positive thing for me to come out of that, was an introduction to the rugged sea coast and a growing love of the Atlantic Ocean.
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Enduring the belittlement of being a cattle rancher's gay son, I somehow managed to earn a position on an International Touring Dance Team for Brigham Young University. After college I opened a Salon where I was a stylist for 17 years. I have learned how to knit up a storm, play the piano and am continuing to attempt to master the potters wheel. I have also discovered the magic of creating stained glass windows. My youth taught me appreciation for nature and its beauty. Dancing and touring across Europe, the Middle East, and China..among other places, installed the hunger for travel and discovering other cultures.
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Religious repression and hate acts against us gave us the courage to get the hell out of Utah when the Mormons gave us the boot for being Gay. We wanted to get as far away from Utah as we possibly could while still living in the US. We spent a year traveling to Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and the East coast searching for a new home. We finally pulled up roots and landed in Maine. (I'm proud to say that my partner and I just celebrated our 40th year together.) Twenty four years now I have called Portland home. I worked as an Operations Agent for Casco Bay Lines for 22 of those years, which certainly wasn't an artist's calling but it did have its rewards. I love to eat fine foods and drink good wine. I also enjoyed seeing my islander friends almost daily, while being able to work by the water. I didn't even mind a rusty car or cleaning the seagull shit from my windshield. I'm now finally retired and able to devote more time to perfecting my art.
I've been very lucky to paint on-site in some beautiful inspiring places. The Alaskan Tundra, the British Isles....the Grand Tetons and now the craggy coast of Maine. The possibilities here are endless. I think maybe now I am finally ready to tackle my uncle's fence. Too bad he's already snuffed it. Maybe he's resting in peace or NOT!
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