I don't think any one artist has been an influence on me. There have been so many. From Monet, to Georgia O'Keeffe, to my Uncle David Ault and hundreds more. Some of my earliest memories are my love of art. As a child, it was so important to me to stay within the lines in my coloring books and to even try my hand at shading. Drawing soon became a passion for me. Any money I may have earned or received would go to buying a new sketch pad or drawing pencils. |
If I didn't happen to have a sketch pad I would walk to the beach near me and draw pictures in the sand with a stick. At times I would find a soft sandstone and draw pictures on the hard granite boulders at the jetty. They were nearly always drawings of the mountains and Bay Ocean Spit across Tillamook Bay. |
By the time I was in school at Neah-Kah-Nie High, I was sure I would go on to college to become a commercial artist. Instead life got in the way and I became a commercial truck driver instead, for the next thirty seven years. I did start to dabble into oil painting off and on through those years. My love and amazement for all the beauty and color around me never went away, through the years. I still dreamed of being an artist...Maybe some day. |
After retiring from driving, "Some day" has finally come. I now have the opportunity to express and share a tiny fraction of the beauty and purity of color I can see in so many things. A part of the world that is so calming. The way a wave curls and sunlight shining through the crest. The softness or brightness of a flower. The quiet serenity of falling snow. The way colors and shapes can challenge and manipulate emotions. I am grateful for everyone and everything that has influenced my art. Darlene Anderson |
