I've been painting and drawing forever. In high school I did one painting that won all sorts of prizes and after that, part of me thought I would go on to take lots of classes and be an "artist." Instead, when I got to college, I was busy taking academic courses and intimidated by the thought of a college grade resting on my work, so I didn't take any art classes. My oil paints dried out and my easel started gathering dust.

I spent several years -- most of college and grad school not painting or drawing. Periodically I would go to an art supply store and look and touch and maybe buy a little something, but I rarely used anything. I wanted to paint or draw or something, but didn't make the time.

About a year after The Boy was born, I was participating in a Secret Santa gift exchange and the woman whose name I drew said she loved notecards. With that thought clicking around, I decided to draw up some notecards and have them printed on cardstock. She loved them and I gave away the same designs to other friends as presents -- and it is really annoying me that I cannot find the originals for those cards at the moment. Those drawings were simple pen and ink with watercolor. Nothing fancy and not much like what I've been drawing more recently. In fact they were more related to the doodles I used to put all over my class notes than anything else.

The next year I made Christmas cards for myself and some friends wanted to buy copies. I sure wasn't getting rich off the deal, but it was a thrill to get a check for something I'd drawn.

Since then, I've been doing various things. Artwork ideas float around in my head. A lot of them don't ever make it out and a lot of things that do find their way out look horrible. I've been able to make enough things that I'm pleased with though to make myself happy and to fill up my walls. As of a few years ago, most of the work I've been doing is watercolor and pencil. Some from photos but mostly stuff I've picked in the garden that is sitting around on the kitchen table. I sketch it out and then put the color where it belongs, which is what painting has always been for me -- putting color where it belongs.

I don't think I do watercolors "right". I've never had a watercolor class. I always wanted to paint in oils, but oils are expensive and take up a lot of room. Watercolors won't break the bank and I can set up and take down everything I need in a few minutes.

I'd been doing quite a bit of painting and really enjoying it before I got pregnant with The Baby. During my pregnancy I only painted one picture. After my pregnancy, I only painted one picture -- until one day, out of the blue, Janis wrote to me and asked about notecards. Just doing that and buying a few inspired me to start again.

I'm not an artist. I wouldn't pretend to be, but I do love to make pretty pictures and see them hanging on my walls. Although I have a hard time parting with anything I've ever made, I've reached a point where I want to see if anyone would buy anything bigger than a notecard from me. I've thought for a long time that being in an art show would be really neat, but I'm not really the go-getter type. However, even the way into the simple art show world has been opened. Some of my neighbors organize an annual art show in their house of any and all neighbors who want to participate.

I've been thinking about it for two years. This year, I signed up for the neighborhood art show. I plan to take a lot of notecards along, but I've also been painting some bigger things. Selling any one of them would make me really happy, although there is at least one painting that I'm tempted to price high because I'm not really sure I'm ready to let it go.