Creative Inspiration From Our Parents

Boats
by my Mom Sandra Lansdowne

A recent repeat client named Steve sent me a wonderful link to a site that he built to celebrate the artwork of his Dad, who was a professional artist all his life.  I'll be sharing that link and also that client's project a little later this week.  When I saw the lovely artwork that Steve's Pop created I fantasized about what it might have been like to have a working artist raising me, and how cool that must have been.  Then I paused to celebrate the talents of my own Mom and think about the creative people in my early life. My Mom liked to paint, however she never had much time for it since she was raising 2 kids and holding down a full time job. The work above is some of the earliest that I recall her painting and I was very young in the 1960's when she did these.  Her sister approached painting more full time and she had to have been the first working artist I ever knew. My Aunt was an oil painter and she did a lot of landscapes and production style work of bluebonnets that would sell like crazy at local art fairs. I remember thinking in my early 20's that my Aunt was so talented and yet her subject matter was just not my cup of tea. I guess in my young art school brain I was viewing something as normal as the Texas landscape as passe'. If you are not already snotty about art going into college they unfortunately do give you excellent training on developing that attitude while you are there. It was not until very recently that I realized the huge impact seeing someone getting paid to make art must have had on me as a young child.  I did realize it before my Aunt's passing and was able to thank her for being such a major influence in my career path. I was very lucky to have two very talented women in my young life and I probably would not be who I am without both of them.

If you are an artist or an art collector reading this please leave us a comment and tell us who influenced you as a young child. Who is the first person you knew that sold artwork for a living?  At the very least pause today to think about them and acknowledge them in your mind and heart. Also consider the important role you may be playing to introduce art to the young people in your life.