“Candlelight Vigil”
My painting was taken from a Newsweek photograph of a candlelight vigil called “Young Glory”, honoring the victims of 9/11.
The empathetic expression on the face of the little girl upon her father’s shoulders captured the sentiment of the moment. I tried to do it justice quite a while ago when I became ok about arty so called imperfections.
My artistic endeavors began in Jr. High School (a century ago), and ended shortly after despite encouragement from my artistic mother, and teachers. I compared my work to my mother. What I cinsidered childish and sloppy was actually just my style.
I picked up my paintbrush again and dabbled here and there with wonderful teachers at Great Neck Adult Education and finally wound up studying with Charlie Pasqualina at the Roslyn School of Painting. He encouraged me to appreciate and follow my own unique style. My husband Jeff and I painted with other students and artists and watched as we all took off in our own diverse directions. At those frustrating times when a painting wasn’t working out, he would say, “Are you suffering? Yes? Good! That means you’re an artist!!”
I was lucky to learn from such a master and character who filled the studio with his wit and charm. My artistic philosophy is simple: I believe we all have talent-many of us just need someone to yank it out of us. Charlie did.