
By Contributing columnist LindaGJ aka LindaGJ
“Keep inspired never stop seeing (as opposed to looking), be open to experience, change & the fear of falling on your face. It’s important to give oneself the permission to fail, because, it’s not always the end product, in fact more often the end product should not be the issue, it’s the joy you get from “doing”. I suppose that’s a bit trite, but true for me at least, (Anytime anyone is brave enough to enter my “kingdom” they will see many of those wonderful failures, ones that I never really gave up on)”.
by Ruth of Elephant Dreams
Ruth is an incredibly interesting person, so yall must read all about her! “To get to know her is to get to know her art”. A wonderful inspiration for all artists & non-artists as well! This explains how she became the artist she is today!
Ruth was born in Artesia, CA, & since her father was in the Air Force, she’s been a Nomad ever since. Travels taking her to alot of places… Caracus, Venezuela (where she 1st fell in love with art), to San Antonio, Laredo, & Houston, where she lives now. The travels influenced her art & her life choices! Her husband, also being in the Air Force, continued her traveling & moves to England, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Southeast Asia (especially Thailand & Malaysia) & now to Texas again!
Ruth had part of her eduction in San Antonio, Colorado, Denver (where she graduated from Colorado Women’s School majoring in education with a very large art minor). In her art classes, she loved every minute of it! After her marriage she continued to study art whereever they lived, including New Mexico, Texas, and Malaysia where she studied arts with a Chinese Teacher.
As a young mother, that is when Ruth became interested in photography, a love that stoked her by traveling in Asia, England, & later in Texas!
The camera became a part of her, & she took photos of everything! She was lucky to have a darkroom & access to one at a local college & then she eventually worked as a lab room tech.
With each new camera, each new experience, her love & skill in photography grew. And she was lucky enough to keep traveling & kept taking photos!
Ruth also grew as a mixed media artist, with a love for drawing, painting, & printmaking!
There was not a medium that she didn’t want to learn about. She can safely say that her love for & skill as a photographer greatly influenced how she saw & interpreted the world. She saw things in definate patterns and colors, and the camera & the brush played off of one another. Ruth loves color, the patterns of everyday things & mostly she just just loves the excitement of discovery! That time when there is a tickle in the brain & she knows what she is looking for, something she can play with visually.
She also works in series. It’s like finding an idea & then seeing how far she can take it. One photo, one print, one piece of jewelry is never enough. The idea can always be expanded or focused more on detail. She has always felt so fortunate for this ability to see more because she is never bored with an idea, Most series come to an end, but even then the thread might be taken up years later with a new slant & usually this can be the start if an even larger series!
Ruth does have some set backs but it does not keep her from her passions in life at all. She was diagnosed in 1993 with a bipolar disease. While it is controlled by medications, there are times when ups & downs define her life. She finds it very extremely important to try to help people understand mental illness & hopefully give new perspectives. She knows so many people with mental issues, & they are not “crazy” in the way the media & our society depict them. Modern science has done wonders with medication, she tries to support local charities for mental health, women’s issues, & animal protection. But mostly she tries to be an advocate for children.
Surprisingly, I had the opportunity to meet Ruth, and I call her “My Hero Artist!”
It was by mere coincidence that when I first joined Etsy, I was browsing around & discovered a wonderful artist,photographer, & jewelry artist, this was Ruth!
I eventually realized she was on my Texas Etsy Team. And I had fallen in love with one of her watercolors, although there were many I fell in love with, but especially the watercolors because I majored in art in college & watercolor was my specialty. This one watercolor print was a watercolor of actual watercolors and I kept going back to it to stare at it over & over again.
Well, it just so happens that Ruth lived in Katy, Texas, which is basically Houston where I live & lo & behold one of my mini team friends that I had joined, called The Artisans of Texas, knew her!
Wow, I was a step closer to meeting my “Hero Artist”!
I was in Heaven when I finally met her and eventually I gathered enough money to buy my watercolor print & we met for lunch & exchanged packages as she had bought some cat cards from me! We had a wonderful lunch & I keep in touch with her up to this day!
I love her work so much that I’m so glad that I’m able to share her with yall!
This is a sneak peek slide video of her work taken from all three shops! Yall should definately go visit her shops to see more of this fabulous artist’s work, to purchase or at the very least, yall are in for a Very Big Eye Candy Treat!
Visit Ruth’s other online shops!
Rhradcliffedesigns - Paintings and prints
Earwingsandthings - Captivating Jewelry
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