Friday, November 23, 2012

Paint Party Friday: Week 37, Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Andrea Thompson

image courtesy of Andrea Thompson
Welcome to Week 37 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and to the next edition of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Please click here for details!) This week's featured artist frees our spirits with her fanciful falling ladies and jazzy zentangles.  Please welcome Andrea Thompson!

Please tell us a bit about your personal history with painting. (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)
I have thought of myself as an artist ever since I was very very young and my parents and grandparents told me how good I was at drawing. I loved art and since it was encouraged, I kept doing it. Apparently it was reported on my kindergarten report card that all I wanted to do in school was to sit alone and color. I don't think I have changed an awful lot since then, as that is still my activity of choice...

I took art in highshool and was considered an artist by my friends, but then I went to college for floriculture merchandising instead of art, and then I  got married and had 4 kids and worked full time at the local bank, then in head start, then in early head start and then in fraud and legal in DSS and now in child support. Even though in my head I was always an artist, I didn't actually paint. I did creative stuff like scherensnitte, quilting, quilling, embroidery, sewing, and eventually mail art. For awhile I had a rubber-stamp company with my parents. It was called Zooming Turtles. I drew all the rubberstamp designs and my mom did all the work. You can now buy my designs from third coast rubberstamps.

I think all along I thought I would put off my art until someday when my kids were older and I had time... then I had my surprise child at 39, and then we got his autism diagnosis... And I realized that someday would never come so I had better start painting again anyway. I started with watercolor, started my blog and my etsy shop.

image courtesy of Andrea Thompson

What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?
I used watercolors as they were easy to start and stop since I was mostly painting on my lunch breaks at work. I worked wet into dry, again as it was easier to work in 15 minute slots that way, always with a tiny brush. I have since done some acrylics now that my son lets me work at home a bit too.

image courtesy of Andrea Thompson

What is your favorite thing to paint? Why?
I painted falling ladies like it says in my header... Not by choice, they were just what showed up when I started to paint at first. They were me, I guess, falling out of control, but trying to enjoy the wind on the way down. But that was for about a year, then I moved onto mandalas and zentangles. Both of those are so relaxing to do, no pressure over having it come out a certain way. No preconceived notion of what it will even look like, Just enjoying the process. Then this year I started doing the rocks in white, and my sketchbook, both are very soothing to me as well, along with some acrylic canvases done in an intuitive style, just adding color until I "see" something there on the canvas, then trying to bring that image out.

image courtesy of Andrea Thompson

What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?
My proudest moment would be getting my daughters who were never all that interested in art to do creative things with me....my oldest, Brandy, now has her own etsy needlefelting shop: barefootbananas... And Jesse has started painting at home as well.

image courtesy of Brandy Thompson

What's next in your painting future?
Any type of art that keeps me calm, sane and connected to nature. I would love to make a living at it, wouldn't we all? So if I could publish a book or make classes to sell, that would be wonderful, but for now, it is what i do for myself. The sketchbook I carry everywhere helps document my life and plan future projects but mostly it helps clear the artistic clutter out of my head into paper!

***

Thank you so much Andrea for the lovely interview and for sharing your wonderfully creative artistic "clutter" with us!
To learn even more about Andrea, she can be found at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/FallingLadies?ref=si_shop
 **Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? (Of course you do!)
Click
here for more details!**

Another hopping party last week with awesome artwork! And now, here is our check-in:
As always, please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Hope everyone in the USA has a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend! We are ever thankful for all PPFer's fantastic paintings and enthusiastic participation here.

32 comments:

  1. thank you for the interview Andrea !
    Happy PPF to all !

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  2. Great interview Andrea and as always awesome work. Thanks Eva and Kristin for hosting.

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  3. It's been far too long since I played along! So glad to be back.
    Rinda

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  4. Andrea's story is so inspiring! I'm glad she's shared it with us this week. I waited even longer to get serious about my art, always waiting for the perfect time. There is no perfect time, but I guess it takes some of longer than others to learn that!

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  5. I love Andrea's work and can relate to her story of being an artist in her head even if not always on paper. I'm glad she realised that 'sometime' was now and started to paint again - her falling ladies are always wonderful and her zentangles and mandalas are fabulous!

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  6. I enjoyed reading Andrea's story and her blog is one of my favourites. It really nice to be able to put the person with the art..a bit closer than it was before.
    And i really love that first PPF image!

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  7. SO lovely to get to know another artist better... isn't it funny how we put off for so long, but eventually art comes back around again!

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  8. I've really enjoyed this interview, so right you just have to make time when you can or it just won't happen! It's grounding and does soothe, your art work is lovely Andrea, so happy you shared with us and all the best for all your future creations!

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  9. Thanks again for the opportunity. Bit busy right now but I will be back to see your blogs and read the post with more time later.

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  10. Great interview, have just been over to see her blog too. It's fab. Have a great PPF everyone and thanks to Eva and Kristin for this blog.

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  11. Ohhh I totally love her work!! I am a biiiigg fan :) Thank you dear Andrea for this wonderful interview!

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  12. such amazing work, wonderful interview! Thankyou for hosting Eva and Kristin, and thank you Andrea, I admire your work so much, so delicate and magical, mystical,

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  13. wonderful interview! I have admired Andrea's falling ladies for quite sometime and it is nice to put a person with them. I love the white rock! If she can make time for art, I need to stop making excuses!
    Thank you for sharing your story!
    cheers, dana

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  14. Thank you all for the kind comments, and to Eva and Kristin for hosting every week and giving me the chance to do the interview!

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  15. Thank you so much for sharing this interview. It is amazing to me how we each have our own complicated path and yet there is a very uncomplicated common thread...a need to create that simply won't be silenced.

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  16. I enjoyed reading how Andrea has traveled through her own art world and how it is personal journey she shares with her family and with us.

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  17. Wow ! Andrea ~ you have worked hard ~ understand why you seek serenity ~ your art work is lovely and great interview ~ thanks for sharing with us ~ (A Creative Harbor) ^_^

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  18. I was so happy to read about Andrea, whose work I have been admiring ever since I found it. I'm so happy she finally decided that NOW is the time to do her beautiful art. And I'm also happy to learn a new word today: scherensnitte! Happy PPF!

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  19. " sit alone and color" I really understand that because that is exactly what I do too...I love the name falling ladies! And, not waiting to put off art for another day is so right!

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  20. Always so great to "meet" new artists!! Lovely work Andrea!

    Happy PPF!

    :)

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  21. What a great feature! Andrea does amazing work! Happy PPF!

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  22. Wonderful interview and artwork by Andrea. Haven't done much this week - but linking up with you anyway!!!

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  23. I love Andrea's art and her story! She's totally right -- the time never really does come; we have to seize what we have & go with it. Terrific interview! Thank you for featuring her!

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  24. I was such a nice interview with Andrea. So strange how we woman do everything before we start doing what we love to do. Love her first artwork.

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  25. What a wonderful interview. I love that Andrea made the choice to make time for her art! I know people who in their heart are artists, but have moved away from that. I love hearing about someone who has moved towards it instead.

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  26. I'm a little late for the party, but I'm happy to be here! What a lovely interview and such beautiful work!

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  27. Thank you for the great interview, love your story Andrea! Your art is beautiful!

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  28. Lovely art and interview Andrea...It's always nice to know about artists and their artistic journey and the process involved :)

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  29. I love Andrea's story, as well as her artwork! Thank you, Andrea and Paint Party Friday!!

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  30. Andrea I loved reading your story... I found it inspiring. How lovely that your girls are following in your artistic footsteps.

    I especially love your PPF Zentangle :)

    Karenx

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