I realize Monday is almost over, but my day was derailed by a few unexpected tasks. Sorry, but I’ll try to make up for it now. Let’s get to know each other a little bit better. Many of us only know the other TWS members by their books…not that it isn’t wonderful to know about each other’s writing…but I think it would be fun to learn a bit more about what makes us each unique. So, through this week, I’d love to see you guys post something about yourself that most of the group probably doesn’t know. It can be little or big, personal or career-oriented, whatever you’d like to share that you think would be interesting, or even surprising. You contributors can just go right ahead and post, and if you want to share, but aren’t a contributor yet, just let me know. I can set you up to do it directly, or I can post for you, whichever you’d prefer.

I’ll start. Most of you may not know that I’m a painter. I started dabbling in oils as a teenager, and continued painting off and on over the years. Eventually, I taught acrylics to beginning painters for a large franchise with several stores in our area. Then, I got interested in digital art. I discovered the joys of painting pictures with a Wacom tablet and electronic pen, and for several years, earned my keep painting custom pet portraits. I’m not a trained artist, nor have I ever done Fine Art. But tole and decorative painting, acrylics on canvas, and digital painting made up my creative life for a long time. Here are a couple of pictures of some of my digital pet portraits just for fun.

This is a hugely reduced jpg of an Arabian I did several years ago. The finished painting prints out in fade-resistant ink on heavy watercolor paper. I also made greeting cards and other smaller items from all of my paintings.

This is a portrait of a pit bull named Ginger, done as a memorial after she had passed on. The owner assures me they had nothing to do with her ears being cropped so badly, but they were glad I painted them exactly as they were. The actual painting is about 5 times the size of this.

Close up of nose and eye detail, so you can see how it looked as I was working on it. This isn’t photo manipulation, btw, but stroke by stroke “painting” just as I would have done with wet paints.

There. Now you know something about me most of you probably didn’t know before. Your turn. Do you have an interesting avocation or hobby? Were you once an entertainer? Have you traveled to somewhere wild and exotic we’d all be envious of? Can your wiggle your ears? Hold your breath a very long time? Whatever. Inquiring minds wanna know! Let us hear from you.  Oh, and the Dalmation at the top was my daughter’s dog, Dexter, who lived to be nearly 15, which I’m told is ancient for a Dal.