I've been drawing since I could hold an implement in my tiny little hands - I'm told that was around the age of three. So, it could be said that I've been doing this a long time now;
but honestly, for a few years I was just doodling things like flowers, cats, horses, and birds. I remember one of those birds being an owl, complete with feathers outlined all down the chest, body, and wings, and it had big, sparkling eyes. (Now mind you, it was more like a stick figure owl with consummate V's all over than a highly-detailed illustration, but I was darn proud of that owl!) By this time, I think I was about eight years old.
Every time Mom asked me how I could draw all the little things I did, my answer was always a shrug followed by, "I see it in my head and just do it." When she showed my owl doodle to some of her co-workers, they suggested she find a way for me to start taking art classes as soon as possible. And so began my art education.
In 1981, I began private art lessons from a local San Jose State University art professor. She held classes in her garage for about 10-12 kids in a limited age group. Doodling with scratch paper and ball point pens was soon a thing of the past. I learned how to draw with pen & ink, charcoal, colored pencil, soft pastel, hard pastel, and oil pastel, as well as how to paint with tempera, watercolor, and watercolor pencil. We even dabbled in using scratch-board.
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| Spoon Billed Crane - pen & ink on card stock © Kari Raley |
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| Blue Bird - oil pastel on Ingres pastel paper © Kari Raley |
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| Pink Flower - watercolor on 100 lb. watercolor paper © Kari Raley |
Not bad for an eight-year-old.
Unfortunately, I was only able to take two "semesters" of those art classes, but I still continued to doodle, draw, and paint at home, practicing what I had learned.
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| Blue Jay - watercolor on plain paper © Kari Raley |
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| Buffalo - scratch-board © Kari Raley |
It wasn't until several years later while in high school that I was able to take art classes again, mostly working with tempera paint (which I find isn't very forgiving), hard pastels, and soft pastels. My artwork was regularly posted in the school's art display case each week, and I entered the art competition at the local county fair each year, eventually winning a blue ribbon with an abstract of Monument Valley, UT.
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| Monument Valley - tempera. Blue Ribbon, Del Mar Fair 1990. © Kari Raley |
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| "Just Another Day" - oil pastel, 1990. © Kari Raley |
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| Cougar - hard pastel, 1990. © Kari Raley |
Much of my work from these early years was either given away as gifts, lost (un-returned after exhibition), or damaged. The few pieces I have been able to save happen to be my most favorites, though.
In my next post, I'll share with you what I've worked on since high school and where my focus is today.
I hope you've enjoyed this little sample of how I got started.
-Kari
