When I was a little girl, I used to paint with my grandmother from an instruction book. It was the best of times to have our easels side by side and putting color on canvas boards according to the instructions in the book. It was fun to see how our paintings compared when we were finished. Of course, I thought my grandma’s paintings were masterpieces, but I was proud of mine, too. She always made me feel that my paintings were just as beautiful as hers. I was just sure I was meant to grow up to become an artist.

I never forgot that and I told my dad that I was going to major in art when I went to college. Unfortunately, his response was that I would never make enough to support myself with an art career. So off I went to become a school teacher instead. And then life happened—marriage, children (including twins), several “careers”, taking care of my mother when she became ill, and singing with various groups.

Fast forward a few decades until I discovered Rod Moore and the Learn to Paint Academy (LTPA) on Facebook during the pandemic. I found a few other art teachers at the same time, but Rod was the only one who kept my attention. He made me feel as if I could paint. I didn’t think twice about joining his painting challenge. There was nothing else to do—no singing, no club meetings, nothing. What did I have to lose? The challenge was free!

I joined the LTPA at the end of that first challenge, and I have been applying the principles of the Moore Method of Painting to develop each painting. Before Rod taught me the basics, I would look at a scene, and have a desire to paint it, but had no clue where to begin so I gave up before I even tried.

Thanks to Rod Moore and the methods he teaches, I’ve learned to become more daring than I thought possible. I’m able to tackle painting from photographs or a scene from my imagination without painting along with an instructor. Color mixing has become one of my favorite things to do, and I’m really good at it! Recently I branched out to painting scenes from the Sonoran Desert which surrounds my home. This past March I was invited to display my paintings at a local art fair, and was shocked that I sold 4 paintings. Art by Lindy Kay was born because of the art fair.

My husband has been my biggest fan and supporter. My family and friends can attest that I feel the need to paint almost daily. If I’m not painting, I’m watching painting videos or studying photos or works of art. Best of all, my daughters really didn’t take my painting seriously until they came to help me set up at the art fair. I heard one of them say, “Wow, Mom’s paintings are really good!” Although that’s music to my ears, there’s constant room for improvement. I’m so glad there are so many lessons in the LTPA that I’ll have many opportunities to practice and grow into becoming a more confident artist.

I wasn’t able to complete the current challenge because I had surgery to replace 3 disks in my cervical spine (neck) replaced with brand, new titanium disks along with a plate and screws for stability. I have a rather long recovery ahead, but I began painting slowly as soon as I got the go ahead from my doctor. I didn’t make it past this painting before the challenge ended.

The painting I am holding may seem very simplistic, but it demonstrates the basics:

• Getting the big shapes correct and placing them in the correct place on the painting surface

• Identifying the range of values from dark to light

• Mixing a dark color from 3 paint colors—blue, yellow, and red

• Lightening up the dark color by adding white to create varying medium to light colors

I’ve begun blocking in the next painting in the challenge, and will pick it up again inside the Learn to Paint Academy as I recover and get accustomed to my new titanium disks.