Thomas Matchie

In my younger years I realized I had a talent that came in my DNA because my older sister had it and my father as well, he was a draftsman and became an engineer, so I suppose he had something of an artistic background also. My sister Barb was 7 years older than me, so she had a jump on things which was a big help as I was learning. You could say she was my tutor. In school I learned drawing and pottery and found that to be relatively easy, I could make dishware sets and casserole bowls with lids, I even made a hookah ha-ha. At the same time, I learned to do pen and ink portraits which my sister coached me on as well. But I was always the abstract type and liked to do things differently. After a while I became bored with the diligence of portraits and sprung off into the abstract world and became good at bringing my thoughts into fruition. As my sister stayed with her pen and ink work which was getting better by the year, I had to go further. I bought a camera and started taking pictures of structures and nature. I would look at the pictures and I noticed that the spaces were just as important as the structure itself. Now remember I did not go to school so no one taught me, that I had to find out for myself. It was very exciting, ...