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Website: https://www.lisanielsenfineart.com/
Like many creative types, I have been interested in art for as long as I can remember. I was the one in grade school who drew while the teacher talked. Then, in my twenties, I became interested in airbrush. (Remember that dinosaur?)
I lived in Dallas at the time. There, I met a group of freelance artists who mentored me into the business of advertising art. It was a really exciting time for me. I learned so much about art and design, what makes art good, how incredibly accomplished one has to be to create art that has impact and polish, and how lucky I was to be where I was.
Students would come to our studio to show their books and my heart would go out to them. I could see right away that they had been comparing their work to other students. I got to see, first hand, the calibre of art that got the job. I was right in the middle of it. And I loved it.
As I got farther along and learned more, I wondered – many times – how I got it in my head that I might be able to hang in this big league of artists. It surely wasn’t easy. The more I learned, the more I realized how much I still had to learn. I definitely made mistakes. The ignoranace of a beginner is truly a blessing. If I’d really understood what I was attempting to do, I never would have had the nerve to do it.
Dallas is a place where artists meet and support one another. I got to be in the Dallas Society of Illustrators and so enjoyed meeting all of the amazing talent in that city. Dallas artist Dave Kramer was my first mentor. I met him early on when I was first leaning airbrush painting. He was a first rate airbrush artist. A great artist period. And although he could appreciate the slick airbrush art of the 90’s, he also was looking ahead to other types of art and paint application.
I loved the Impressionists when I was growing up, but through Dave that I learned about other artists whom I’d never heard of or even considered. Masters like Mucha, Sargent, Parrish and Richard Schmid. Dave would take out books, show me pictures, and ask me what I liked about different paintings. He would smile as I would often wrinkle my nose in response. Luckily he was gently persistent and patient. I was learning without even being aware of it. And my tastes and perceptions were growing.
Not long after that I had the crazy good fortune of being able to work with the Dallas artist Greg McCullough. At the time, he was an insanely talented airbrush artist. He took me into his work world at a large ad agency where I had the privledge to be part of a Frito Lay ad campaign. Later, when he launched off on his own, he took me with him into his studio. This man is such a talent. Humble, real. Can draw like an angel. Google his name right now. You won’t believe what he does. I think he’s a Disney artist now. I was one lucky aspiring artist. I learned so much from this guy.
Not long after this I had my first daughter. Somehow my family got me back to Minnesota. A few years later I had another girl. Art was definitely on the back burner for me. But my interest in art always continued.
Like many, I started to look at trying to paint in a more traditional manner. I went to the Minnesota River School and took a flower painting class from Pat Kness. I don’t know if she’d ever had another student who had never used oil paints before. They baffled me. I had a hard time figuring what to do with the messy, slippery stuff. But she patiently taught me the basics.
Later I took a life painting with with real models. I had done a fair amount of life drawing but this took it to another level. My teacher was the portrait artist Pat Jerde. Wow. That class really spoke to me. Even as an airbrush artist, I’d always loved painting people. I took that class many times. Marc Hansen was even teaching there at the time. I took some of his landscape classes. What a talent he is. And a really great teacher.
Now I live in the beautiful state of North Carolina. I am so lucky to be in the middle of this gorgeous and constant inspiration. The journey continues on . . .
