There is some babbling here about school then it moves on to links to my electronic art. I am just giving you the chance to hop right there if that is your desire.

From high-school I moved on to college at SUNY Plattsburgh. My initial Major there, Canadian Studies, was a result of the influence of Mr. Ham, one of my high school teachers. Canadian Studies had been one of our electives offered in high school and I had found it incredibly interesting. One of Mr. Ham's favorite things to say when he was about to give a test was, "I am the tester and you all are.. " and we would respond "The testees." (If you say that aloud you may hear the joke) Some of my interest in the study of Canada was due to his personality more than the subject, but off I went to school and happily declared myself a Canadian Studies major. The second semester I was there I took an intro. to chemistry class. My professor thought I was a natural, and being the easily persuaded person that I am, I changed my major to Chemistry. That phase lasted another semester then I had the chance to take an art class. Until that point I had not realized how much that I had missed making art and within a few days I had switched my major again - this time to art.

My art professor/mentor/friend was Rick Mikkelson. I excelled in art due to my desire not to disappoint him. (If you have not noticed thus far all of my successes are mostly due to my desire to please someone. I did well in track so my brother would be proud of me, I made art in school so Ms Sutter would praise me, I excelled in classes because Rob expected me to. This is a trend that continues to this day..)

... I digress and I think I will expound on Rick a little more now. If you think about it, I went to school in Plattsburgh many years ago and was just one of many many students Rick has taught in his career. Recently, I found out that I did not have my degree (how you may ask did I not realize they had not mailed me the paper? I don't know - I blame it on just wanting out and not really paying much attention to school things), but anyway this was quite a surprise to me. I did not know what to do so I wrote Rick an email and he spent the time and the energy helping me get things straightened out with the registrar. All I can say is that I hope I can do someone else a great a favor in return some day. Thanks Rick.

It was also at Plattsburgh where I met and dated my first computer geek. This would also be an important event in my life because it led to me working as a computer lab aide, teaching software classes, TAing CSC205, and finally being the student supervisor for the Computing Support Center. It started rather innocently by me hanging out in the computer lab with the beautiful Rob, (the computer geek in question) and being bored. In an attempt to keep me entertained (and to keep me from pestering him) he showed me Aldus SuperPaint. My brain was suddenly filled with a fascination for this medium. The one thing that I sort of disliked about being an art major was always being dirty. (There was always paint, clay, chalk or ink on my hands and clothes.) With computer art you avoided that problem altogether. A very long time friend of mine learned of my interest in computers and suggested that I combine my two interests into a major - BA in Fine Arts with a concentration in computer graphics. Now, doesn't that sound impressive? All that really means is that I can make drawings using electronic media.

Today(2/22) at lunch I found myself talking a little about my second car, the renault. I don't recall writing anything in regards to this car before so I figured I would take a few minutes to do so. I guess I should start at the beginning which was the AMC. I don't know exactly what model it was.. but it was burgundy with a orange stripe down the side - yes, it is as hideous as it sounds. One should not look a gift horse in the mouth and since my sister gave me the car I should not abuse it too much. I loved my AMC though! It was a great riding/driving car even though it was ugly. I had the AMC for my first and I believe second year in college. I certainly had it while I was dating Alan (that is another story, several in fact). As all good things usually do, the AMC came to an end. The left rear support popped up through the floor in the back. I took it to a garage and the fixer man said he could not repair it so I needed a new car. So there I was stranded without a car and as in all desperate situations my wonderful father came to Plattsburgh to rescue me.

Now on to the renault.. my father seeing that I now had no car and having little desire to tote me around everywhere decided to buy me a car. He looked around for a while and we found this renault for 900. I liked it when I saw it.. it was this goldish color, was in good shape and my dad test drove it and it drove great too! That was all he needed to know - so we bought it. The only hitch here is that I did not know how to drive a standard. My dad was extremely irate. Simple solution to me would be to teach me how to drive it. My dad is not much of a teacher... so the task eventually fell to my sister and her hubby. My sister did not really know how to drive a standard either but she is very mechanical and figured it out in no time. We drove around the back roads for a few days and I managed to stall it only some of the time rather than all of the time. A few days later I was heading back to college hoping the entire drive there that I would not have to stop and run the risk of stalling out. Over the next couple of months I finally got the knack and was pretty good at driving that car.

It was later in my college career that I met Alan and we started dating. I think we had a great time together but I knew he wanted to break up with me pretty early in our two plus year relationship. I can only guess as to why he did not break up with me but I suppose he did not want to hurt me plus he was never very pro-active. I guess I knew and could have broken up with him but our lives in college were so entwined it would have been a mess. I guess that is kind of a cop-out - I was really scared to be on my own and I loved him very much. We did have some very good times together and I like to think that he was not unhappy with me all of the time - but that may just be what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.

He was a great boyfriend though. During my last two semesters I got very ill - not ill enough to leave school, (although in retrospect that might not have been a bad idea) but I was not very much fun to be around. Every day Alan would bring food back to the room for me and never complained. Since I was quite ill and did not get out much I gained alot of weight - which he was also understanding about. Keeping him with me when I knew he was unhappy was terribly selfish but if I had it to do over again I can't say that I would do any better. I always hoped he would change his mind and love me like I loved him. My new love reminds me of Alan in some ways - some scary ways - the foremost of these is their ability to bury their true feelings. There is a story that goes here but I will leave it for later.(much later)

I know you are just dying to see some of my art.. and just for that reason I have included some of my work. I have decided to put these in reverse chronological order so you can see the new stuff first. The new stuff is mainly just dabbling but I hope to be putting some more time into it as I go. The first three are renderings I made with Ray Dream Designer. I like the program a great deal although I was using one almost as good when I was in college many years ago. The catch is that it ran on an Amiga. Anyway, here are my 3d rendered fish, my persona and a still life with vase and sphere.

Less recently I puddled around with fractal painter and did several portraits of Brad Pitt. I wonder if Johnny ever thinks of me? Strange transition, huh? Not really.. Johnny gave me the fractal painter program.. *blinks* now wasn't that confusing. Other fractal painter pictures I have done are Wine Bottle with Shot Glass, Black Wine Bottle and Wine Glass.

The last set of art works I have for you were part of my senior portfolio and were all done in Aldus SuperPaint.

If I remembered anything about them I would chat about each work..but college seems like it was a long time ago. The first work, Blue Face is a portrait of a older woman who was in my drawing class. She often put the rest of us to shame, balancing a family and a job and still managing to produce great art. The Sheep drawing I did as a farce, but I liked the ending result and ended up including it in my portfolio. The most time consuming work I produced in this medium is Still Life With Bread. While working on this drawing I often found myself on the closest zoom available - painting it pixel by pixel. I got so absorbed that I would forget to blink and my eyes would start to water in protest. Obsessive? Me? Never.

The prints you will see here were submitted as my senior portfolio in Print Making Class. The series was based on and inspired by religions of the world. The majority of the work was done on zinc plates using a variety of techniques. Prints should really be seen in the flesh to get a feel for the texture but you can get some idea of depth from these scans.