Creative Woodworks & crafts 1998-07, страница 56

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Shown above are three delightful example of Sheila's new basket designs. Itoelve patterns are currently available.

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Getting started with painting I began decorative painting about seven years ago, soon after my youngest daughter was born. At thai time, I was crafting and designing teddy bears to bring in some extra money so I could stay at home willi my daughter. I used lo have shows at my home, about twice a year, where customers came to order dolls, wall hangings and bears tor gifts and holidays. These shows provided me with enough work to keep me busy for months at a time. As the number of items which 1 offered increased, I began to take notice of the number of dolls and bears requiring assorted wooden props. My best friend, Cari Denison, who is also very creative, had done some scroll sawing and offered to help make some of the props. This way, I could customize the props to fit my needs exactly.

With these first props came the necessity to add color. We began obtaining paints and painting books, expanding our options for decorating. Soon, I began cutting stand-up figures, pins, and other wooden items to sell in my home shows. I have always loved to paint, and with my many years of experience reading sewing patterns and following directions, painting instructions were fairly easy for me to understand. After a while, f felt confident enough to change colors to my own taste. Eventually, that led to me drawing my own designs.

Working with Scroller Ltd. and getting published

After a few years of painting, While searching for some wood thin enough to make pins from, we met up with Scroller Ltd. At the time, they were looking for artists to color in their beautiful three-dimensional wildlife scenes, and we began working tor ihem on a "see how it goes" basis.

My first published work for Scroller was the cover project of the April '97 Creative Woodworks & Crafts magazine called "Lookout Canyon." When 1 first opened the box containing copies of the magazine and saw the cover, I couldn't believe that something I had created in my kitchen was on the cover of a national magazine! To me, it was like a dream. I have always wanted to be able to earn a living through art and this gave me the confidence and drive to push on and to try to make each piece of work better and better.

Throughout 1997, I was fortunate to be published several times in Creative Woodworks & Crafts, Scroll World, and Wood Ornaments magazines. One of the most popular pieces I painted was a large mouth bass plaque ("Nature's Way"), which was destined for Scroll World magazine. 1 like to refer to it as my "Super Bowl t-'ish,"

Creative Woodworks & Ciafts

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