Yellow Pears I - 2005
One Yellow Pear - 2020
I have been drawing as long as I can remember. I spent more time drawing in class when I probably should have been paying attention. In high school, I had my first opportunity to paint with a wonderful local artist Nell Bennett. That is when I fell in love with painting. I really can’t call myself self-taught because there are so many people through the years who have helped me be a better artist.
As with many of artists, the slight detour came when I became an adult and fell victim to the phrase; “You need to get a real job, painting is a hobby not a career.”
Fast forward twenty years, my daughter had an art class project that she, of course, waited until the last weekend to start. She had to complete a painting for art class. I told her I used to paint back in the day, and we would paint together. We bought acrylic paint since she needed it to be dry by Monday. We both started from the same reference photo. That weekend was all that it took—
Being a single mom with two teenage girls, painting kept me from going crazy!. Painting was my drug of choice, it was addicting. I soon realized I would not be able to afford my new “hobby” if I didn’t find a way to pay for the paint—quality art supplies are expensive. I decided to put a few of my small paintings on eBay. If they sold I could buy more paint! I guess you could say the rest is history.
Since that time, I have sold over 700 small daily paintings in my various online stores. My children often referred to it as my hobby that got totally out of control. I was fortunate to be selling art online and have been selling my art on Etsy since the early years. I was one of the original artists to join Daily Paintworks started by Carol Marine and her husband David. I have followed wonderful daily painting artists like Carol, David Keiser, and Qiang Huang along with many others which have helped me grow as an artist. The explosion of painting websites, youtube, instagram, downloadable instruction videos, and online workshops make this a great time to be an artist.
I am now painting both small daily paintings and larger paintings that I enter into local and online shows. My paintings are available for sale here on my website, Daily Paintworks, and my Etsy Store. Prints of my paintings are available through Fine Art America.
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Thank you for stopping by and following my adventure! I am having the time of my life!
Torrie
