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Since the small town
schools I attended in the South as a child were on too tight a
budget to afford such "frills" as art in their budgets, my exposure
to art and art materials as a child was minimal - coloring books at
home, ditto sheets at school etc.
My first chance
to experience using art material came as I was preparing to become
an elementary teacher. To teach us how to instruct our future
students, the instructors told us that we were to take the role of
children and they would teach us as we should teach those we would
teach in the classroom. It was great fun and my favorite part of
classroom teaching.
I taught three
years before taking time off to be with my own children. I did take
night courses in various arts and crafts to satisfy my need to "make
things."
As the younger
one neared school age, I decided to take some more courses  with idea of becoming an Art Education teacher. We were
living in Texas at the time.
I took a
figure drawing course which was being taught by a printmaker. I
quickly became fascinated with printmaking. However, I did not have
the prerequisites to take that course.
We returned to
St. Louis, where I was no longer certified to teach, but I found a
linoleum print making course listed at the University City night
school. I signed up for it right away.
Herb Gralnic
taught us the basics of cutting, inking, and printing by hand. It
was a very practical course for us, as none of his students had
access to the printing press that most other types of printing
require.
Soon I was
happily cutting, printing and editioning linoleum prints on my
kitchen  table. The walls of our small apartment were covered
with drying prints. When it was time for the children to come home
from school; blocks, ink, brayers and cutters were put on a layer of
newspapers, covered with another layer and shoved under the
bed.
Eventually
another baby and a house where I could have an attic corner for my
studio entered our lives. That continued nicely until that baby, as
a two year old, inked the attic with her little
handprints.
After having
to use turpentine to clean baby's hands, I decided it was time to
try a more washable medium.
I began taking
classes in watercolor, which I continue to this day. I have recently begun working on new
prints.
"Picking Blueberries"
 "See the Daisy"
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