One-Line Bio
Biography
I am an artist/photographer/writer/coach, widowed after 47 1/2 years of a marriage to a wonderful, very special man, mother (2 sons), grandmother (4 grandchildren), with 2 websites - naturesplayground.com, which showcases and sells my unique, manually-enhanced photo drawing art and eteletours.com, using my photography as the source for teleclasses, - Expanding Creativity - Tranforming Perceptions.
In addition, I have an online Gift Shop with Cafe Press - http://www.cafepress.com/natureart.
There are now 3 ways to experience PICTURE TO PONDER: In the Introduction - http://www.eteletours.com/ptpintro.html, the Archives - http://home.ezezine.com/74_3/ , and NOW here on the PICTURE TO PONDER BLOG.
FAMILY
My husband Sam and I moved to Boynton Beach, Florida in December 2002, after 37 years in our home in Old Bridge, NJ. Sam is the original photographer in the family, having gone out to California at the age of 17 with 3 cameras around his neck. While in the Army, he was stationed in a hospital in Heidelberg where he got incredible training in the hospital dark room.
You can see his wonderful black and white photography at www.naturesplayground.com/photography.html
and read about him on INTERVIEW, and interview I did for our community newsletter.
TEACHING, SALES, and ART
My professional background includes a Bachelor's in Art Education from, now, Kean University and a Master's Degree in Creative Arts Education from Rutger's University. I taught Art in the elementary school for 6 years and one year in middle school and high school. With the decline in enrollment, during those years, my position was eliminated twice.
For the next 25 years I was in sales, with the final 7 years being in inside sales, ultimately managing a telesales department for a small publishing company. The sales positions I held were all related to various services for small businesses. My sales training includes several years with the Sandler Sales System.
Nature and making discoveries in Nature are among my passions. My first public exposure as an artist was through a series of Watercolor, Fantasy landscapes I did for a Participatory Exhibit, to satisfy my Master's Degree requirements. At that time I named my business Nature's Treasures Interpreted.
During my art teaching years I labeled my art specialty as "piddler", doing a "little of this and a little of that." I also got quite involved in using one of our Pentax cameras to document the children's art, snapping loads of shots and giving my husband hours and hours of darkroom work as he developed and printed all my pictures, several of which were published.
Moving into my sales years I did little art until one point when I was working part-time and got caught up in a major beach reconstruction in my town. After taking close to 3,000 photos in a 5-month period, I did finally come to acknowledge myself as an "artist." I later enhanced several of the prints, resulting in
NATURE'S PLAYGROUND and PHOTO/DRAWING
During the years I was teaching, I often had children drawing from natural objects, turning them into "beings", similarly to my fantasy landseascapes (above). In the '90's I copyrighted ©NATURE'S PLAYGROUND, an interactive children's book kit, the proposal for which includes nature photos, acetate sheets and markers for children to trace over images they see in the photos, then write stories about them. I am currently working on developing a similar concept into interactive Nature eclass.
My own photo/drawing art was an extension of the book/kit concept. When I first got my scanner and color printer, I started "playing" with the prints.
CHECK OUT - www.eteletours.com - Expanding Creativity - Tranforming Perceptions. Teleclasses using my Nature Photography and participants' own environments and experiences as springboards for expanding "seeing"and impacting one's interaction with self and other relationships. This course provides access for noticing, breaking up and shifting beliefs, moving self, projects and relationships forward, and
PICTURE TO PONDER- ISSUE 130A - From My Heart to Yours
With gratitude for your visiting and reading