How I got started as an Artist

I’m an Artist. This is how I got started.

I found my diary from second grade. I wrote, “I want to be an artist so I can paint the clouds.” I remember believing if people looked at the way I looked at clouds it would cure all unhappiness.

Anyways, I always drew. My mom said I would sneak crayons and paper under my pillow so I could draw after bedtime. Which was actually a big thing for me because I’m such a rule follower.

I discovered charcoal and oil paint in high school and that was when I saw myself as a serious artist. Yep that was it for me. It’s all I wanted to do. I went to a university to study drawing and painting. Though I think what I got most out of college was all the art history classes. I even spent a summer in Italy studying art history. But thats a story for a different time.

But the huge thing  that changed my life as an artist was when I discovered Atelier’s. Oh Ateliers… Ateliers are based off of the old masters’ way of learning to draw and paint. This is how Rembrandt was taught this is how Michelangelo was taught. This is how all the old masters that really really knew how to draw and paint were taught. and I wanted that too! I went to best one, The Ravenswood Atelier in Chicago. Oh my! It was like a bootcamp for drawing and painting technique. Think standing all day at your easel drawing the nude model under skylights. Oh do I have stories from this time in my life…

After all that, I moved to the Coast. Now I make and sell my artwork in my home studio. Mostly I paint stories about people and landscapes. Perhaps I should paint some more clouds.

Your artist friend,

Jennifer Marie Keller