Edna's Otter. 2022

Personal Requests Accepted...

Welcome to my 1st website blog posting...uhm awkward...but here we go!

This sweet cuddly otter was done on top of a paint pour that my bestie, Edna, did in 2019 and then requested that I paint something on it and eventually give it back to her as a birthday present. The canvas sat on the top shelf of the bookcase in my home office until 2022 when I started painting again. I visited “the Google” and image searched for screaming otters for reference pictures, did a sketch of the basic shapes and got to painting. I wanted this to have the look of shiny wet fur on the body and arms, and the head to have a wispy, downy appearance as the otter pokes its head out of the water to scream into the void, a warning of what is to come. But do they listen? No. Chaos looms on the horizon.

My goal is to spend one hour every day doing something that feeds my soul. It can be fun, relaxing, social or antisocial. Sometimes this will be time spent sketching or painting, reading or watching TV, spending time with family and friends, or just staring at my ceiling daydreaming. Escaping into other fantasy worlds has been a part of my life since I was a small child. Thanks to my mom, I grew up immersed in the fantastic alternate worlds that she introduced me to. I have fond memories of family time spent watching Star Wars, Willow, Dark Crystal, Stargate, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Firefly and many more worlds on the screen or in the pages of our favorite books.

In Elementary school, my mom read the Harry Potter books to my brother and I before bed. This started my journey at a young age as an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction novels. As a teen and young adult, I carried a book with me everywhere. I read about fantasy worlds filled with magic and dragons, heroes and villains. I traveled to a future in the stars full of space adventures, alien encounters, with strange new worlds and critters. As an adult, I continue to daydream and escape from my anxiety and life stressors through stories on the page and screen.

In 2022, painting became another avenue of escapism where I could explore and create fantastical, weird and wonderful creatures for a slightly twisted world. Every time I paint, sketch and create something new and a little strange it gives me a dose of Vitamin Joy. My hope is that you also get a dose of Vitamin Joy from my art...and perhaps someday from your own!

Thank you for popping by...be well...be happy...

& come back real soon now, yah hear!