St. Pete Beach 2017 Painting

I am a mother, artist, and an entrepreneur living in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was born in Miami, Florida, and lived the younger years of my life there. I have fond memories of South Miami, Florida; I wanted to acknowledge some of those memories by painting them... The paintings are based on my memories of being a child there. Life became more complicated when my mother remarried and we moved to Tampa, Florida. I started 5th grade there. Girls became "clicky" in school... and my little brother had a hard time too. I do not have "fond" memories from Tampa. Currently, I am divorced and I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. I like St. Petersburg better than Tampa, and I have been here for a while (with my ex-husband), raising our two boys. They are now almost ready to be on their own! My family is #1 in my life. As a child, I always drew and was always told, I was talented. I won school competitions as a child in art. So "art" is just "what I do"; in some form or another, I have always been an artist. When I was a young woman, I worked with an artist named, "Peter Stilton", (here) in the Tampa Bay area. I attended a liberal arts school, Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, out of high school, thinking I wanted to be an actress (I had won the lead roles in high school plays, and I loved it. High school was "painful" for me because I was shy. Acting actually helped me cope and "escape" from this shyness). While in California, my father died of ALS in Miami, Florida. His death (and even his prior sickness) had triggered a downward spiral in me. My health was very bad for many years to come. I wasted the next seven years of my life. It wasn't until I became pregnant with my first child, that - I turned my life around. I actually quit drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes as soon as I found out about the pregnancy. My (ex)-husband and I married and we started a family here in St. Petersburg, Fl. I always drew and painted, wherever we were - wherever we went. We lived in the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas for a magical year and a half with our two, beautiful little boys (the the boys attended the island school!). It was wonderful, but it didn't last too long. We came home. We had to leave suddenly and all of my paintings from there (pastels) were left behind. Back at home and over the years, I have created art with pastels, acrylics and more recently, oils.