sjthaxter

Most of what I know about art has been self-taught. I have struggled through a couple of classes by a local water color artist. One on portraits (very difficult) and one on botanical subjects. I have also done a number of paintings of birds and butterflies from our area. Those are the subjects I am interested in doing better.
I am retired from the US Navy after 21 years of service. After retirement I worked for an engineering company that built hardware for the Navy. I was hired as a technical writer, and after several years, and writing a number of training classes on maintenance, the company laid off the draftspersons and artists who had been doing illustration for my writing. I tried my hand at some sketches and machinery drawings, and those were acceptable to the customer, so I worked at both writing and illustration for the next 3 years, when the company laid me off.
Since that time I have worked outdoors quite a lot at nature parks and wildlife parks. I started taking photos of plants and animals, and drawing and watercoloring them.