I was born and raised in New Orleans, but have been living in Alabama since 1971. I worked as a social worker for 25 years, retired and took a portrait painting class the summer of 2004 from Sergei Shillabeer an art professor at Troy University. I had no training in art. I had never used oils, but I was immediately hooked, and spent the last 10 years doing everything to develop my skills. Painting portraits was my most successful endeavor financially, but I gave it up a year ago for health reasons and my desire to try other mediums. I have tried several...more