I'm (loosely) based in Tallahassee, Florida, although I grew up in West Palm Beach, and I visit and work there frequently. I was Formally Trained (I guess...there were classes) at the Florida State University, within their Department of Visual Art and Dance. They gave me, perhaps foolishly, a Bachelor of Science degree in Studio Art, with a minor in Nothing. It is mounted on an unwieldy plaque at home and I even have an extra copy in case I lose it.
I spent two years in college before I decided it was okay to major in art. During those two years, I (unintentionally) enrolled in at least one class in almost every department at the university. As a result, I'm poorly-versed in everything from meteorology to fiction writing to the Italian language to coping with death. In grade school, it was always so important to be well-rounded, but they don't think that way at college. So it would have been very difficult for me to finish my degree on time had I chosen anything other than art.
By the time I started my art classes, I was of course two years behind on prerequisites, so even my degree training was slapdash. I learned the basics of assemblage and pottery and printmaking and some "experimental" art, but found that my interests lay mainly in drawing and painting. So that's what I do now.
Most of the professional work you'll see from me is done in various versions of Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop/Imageready. Most of the fine art is done in oil on canvas. But since my friend Njicki helped me pick out acrylic paints and explained to me the finer points of how they smell bad, I've found a satisfactory level of success in using them.
I have already determined that the life of a working artist is not an especially wealthy one, but I don't mind. As long as I'm able to make rent with the money I earn painting commissions and designing websites, I'm not going to panic. Things have a way of working themselves out. And when they don't, they usually give way to something more interesting. That's how I wound up doing art in the first place.
