Skip to main content

A Journey To Being An Artist

Vera Ritter - Artist
I have posted some of my art and photography on line at Fine Art America and have developed a following from around the world.  I don't really care about selling my art but I love sharing it with people as a way to showcase my progression as I move through life and develop my talents in these areas. 

I have always loved landscape photography with mountains, water, boats flowers and/or wildlife.  I am not a Photographer who enjoys doing Photography for weddings or events.  I love looking through the lens and finding the right composition for my photographs to preserve them as a memory.  There have been many trips where I have had a wonderful adventure and when I look back at the photographs they flood me with good memories. I know when I leave this life those memories will fade and the photographs won't have the full meaning unless I display, explain and show them to the world.  I need to do a better job at defining that moment in time with my viewers so they can come away with the feeling of being in that place and time.  I need to really work on writing out my thoughts as it pertained to that one moment in time.

My art is rather new and yet some would say old.  I have always influenced my children and grandchildren in the area of art.  I bought many art supplies and kits, canvases and paper for them to dive into yet I didn't.  I didn't think I was an Artist but that maybe  I could influence others to see their full potential.  It worked, yet one day an Art Teacher who was displaying their work and art classes at a Winery where my daughter's art was being showcased in their tasting room asked me if I was an Artist as well.  I laughed and said "Oh no, not me!  I'm crafty and love photography but no I can't draw a straight line!"  She said "oh, really!  Look around this room at all of the vendors with art and do you see any straight lines in their work?"  I truly looked around and saw through her eyes that no, there wasn't a straight line drawn!  Incredible.  She then explained that I could very well be an Artist.  It just takes the first step to start. 

I went home and bought myself some art supplies and pulled off the shelf one of a hundred books I have of my Grandmother's collection on how to do art. My Grandmother Vera Ritter was an Artist and had a book on how to do just about everything in art from pastels, acrylics, water coloring and oils. There was no topic that wasn't covered so I decided to read some of her books and review mixing colors.  It became an adventure and passion.  I was hooked.  I decided to just paint out of my head and they turned out good but looking at pictures and painting was somewhat easier for me.  I had plenty of photographs to choose from since  I have been a Photographer since my Freshman year at college and really even before that. 

I believe that if you put your mind to it you can do just about anything!  I'm still in the learning stages of fine art and I am currently looking at doing some mixed media projects and how to paint stimulating backgrounds for my canvas paints.  I think a great background with interesting color mixes can open up the world of imagination.  I sometimes flip through my Grandmother's books and find inspiration.  They are very old books and booklets but are still relevant today as they were 30-40 years ago. 

So if someone tells you they could never be an Artist, maybe they just haven't had the courage or the push to get started.  Share my story.  I shared it with some elementary girls in a book club that were reading about art and learning to sketch for the first time.  I believe words can leave an impact and that we all have the capability to be creative!

 We are made in the image of God and God is certainly the most creative ever!  I know I can't be at his level but he has given us gifts and creativity is certainly one of them!


Vera Ritter - Artist


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My New Artwork

Eli the Crow Okay, I'm not a multi-talented artist. I just like to dabble with acrylics, watercolors, and photography. I have also been totally enthralled by the Heirloom Traditional Paint Company out of  Kentucky, so much so, that I painted my kitchen cabinets myself. I have now bought enough paint to redo every piece of furniture I have. Why? It is because I love playing with colors. Maybe I never really grew up! Coloring books even made a comeback for adults in recent years. I should have thought of that idea first!  I usually digitize my art and then throw it onto my gallery. I am not concerned about sales as much as having a place to put my art. I enjoy viewing it and seeing if I am making any progress in my skill set. I don't always sit and do art, or take my camera everywhere I go, so my progression is really, really slow, but then again, that really isn't my goal in my hobbies and crafts. I just like doing them. I don't need to be the best, or the greatest, or h
Post a Comment
Read more

After You Convert Your Artwork - Part 2: What Next?

Now that you have converted your artwork to a digital format it is now time to find out what you can do with it!  I like using my digital art and photography to design products, sell prints, and for adding to my stories and articles that I like to write and post. Some of my artwork can be found on Etsy at www.earthsflowers.com . I use the company Printify to upload the artwork and attach it to products that I can sell, from cups to clothing. This company interfaces with Etsy so once I design something I upload it to Printify which is easy to link with my Etsy and Pattern (full website that they offer) store. I normally use Photoshop 2023 for my designs as well as utilizing some options available through Printify. I will also use templates that are available in the Canva app too. In Canva I can use their templates or design my own. It really is a mix of options that I use from Canva, which is a paid service if you want their premium products to download in .png format (with no backgroun
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Reproduce Your Art & Make it Digital - Part I: Scanning

Flatbed scanning of artwork Need more room for all those paintings to hang on your wall? I'm in the same boat, so when I finish a painting, I do a 300-dpi scan of it to create a digital file. Home scanners are typically good at doing this, but if your artwork is large, you must find someone with a large-format flatbed scanner or take a high-resolution photograph that isn't blurry or doesn't bow on the sides. Practice makes perfect! I try to stick with painting on canvas, boards, wood, and paper in 12x12 or smaller, and if your flatbed on your copier/scanner doesn't fit the entire artwork, you will need a program where you have several scans showing all the painting and then merge it. I use Photoshop, and it works great!  If your artwork is larger and you can't make scans of all the artwork on your home printer/scanner, then there are alternative ways to do it. First, I would advise finding someone who has a business doing large format art scanning. They usually turn
Post a Comment
Read more