I stood looking at this customer’s toes and asked "Toe Painting?". She said, "not toe - it’s tole!" Then she spelled it - " t o l e." She explained it was painting on wood and tin and that she was looking for supplies. This was in June of 1974 in Southeast Alabama in my small art and craft shop. She eventually became my first teacher and introduced me to this fabulous, creative pasttime. It didn’t take long for me to be hooked. After a beginners course, my teacher and her husband were transferred and because no other teachers were in the area, I figured I needed to teach. I had a waiting list of students, so I began a six week beginner series. I would practice every day for at least an hour the things I would be teaching the next week. I was barely one step ahead of my students. Everything was going great until students came back and wanted an intermediate class! There were very few instruction books back then, but believe me, I practiced painting from every one I could get my hands on. I had to learn new things to teach.

It was in the Fall of 1974 that I learned about the Society of Decorative Painters. I had driven 1100 miles to take a painting class in Texas and someone asked me to join the Society. A few months later (I’d been painting maybe six months), I submitted my first certification entry. I just knew it would pass - after all, I was the only teacher in my area - so I assumed I was good! Boy, what a learning experience that was! The judges were not overly impressed with the lemon I had shaded with a piece of sponge rubber and burnt sienna oil paint (What? You don’t use sponge rubber to do your shading?!) They also weren’t too thrilled with the milk can I had painted using a can of aluminum paint I bought at the hardware store! I thought it was great! After all, I had highlighted (again with my trusty sponge rubber) using metallic silver oil - it really gave that aluminum paint texture! Ha!

That first non-passing board is hung right next to my Master Decorative Artist entries because, to me, it is equally important. By not passing on my first attempt, it made me determined to learn more so I could pass. Four tries later, I passed my CDA exam at the Seatlle Convention in 1979, and received my Master Decorative Artist certificate in 1982 in San Francisco. I highly encourage students to try to achieve the Certified Decorative Artist award from the Society of Decorative Painters. It is a terrific way to learn what you know and also what you don’t know. It is a guaranteed way to make your painting skills grow! For more information contact SDP at Society of Decorative Painters.

Along the way I have been fortunate to take from many excellent teachers. Some taught me blending skills, others teaching skills, and perhaps most important of all, some taught me about color and how to be observant and encouraged me to "do my own thing". To all of them I am grateful. My way of repaying them is to pass information on to my students and encourage them to learn the skills they need so they, too can "do their own thing". Learning color is, to me, the most essential step in that process.

The books I have written on color and the video I have done try to simplify the complex subject of color and make it something that everyone can learn. In my pattern packets I try to give information and use color in a way that makes good color sense. I hope you will enjoy learning and painting from them.