Bechtolsheim, Sandra

I believe that my interest in art began when I was a young girl.  My mother, not an artist by trade, would show me how to draw faces and human figures in a proportionate manner.  As time went on, I began to hone my skills by practicing drawing things that other people had already created.  In high school I took three years of studio art and was then introduced to just about every type of artistic media that was available at that time.

After high school, however, my life took me in a variety of different directions and my artistic side fell to the wayside.  I pursued a degree in political science and then some twenty years later I decided to become a nurse.  I saved my portfolio from high school, and over the years would take my art out and look at it from time to time. 

My creative interests re-surfaced at age forty-eight, and I signed up for a watercolor class at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  I became absolutely hooked on this type of media, and took more watercolor classes at the Art Attack School of Art in Sycamore, Illinois.

I love the way that the paint flows together on the paper and how unpredictable watercolors can be.  Sometimes some of my best results have come as a happy accident.  I love the outlet that painting gives to me.  It is truly the only thing that I do in life that I can become so engrossed in that I lose all track of time.

Art gives me the opportunity to create beautiful things.  I do not limit myself to any one topic because everything in life is open to interpretation.  I feel as though my subject matter is already in the paper.  When I start to paint, I am only bringing it to life through my brush strokes.

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