Artist Roots

An established artist of thirty plus years, Linda was taught to draw at an early age by her Disney Artist grandfather, George Drake (hired by Walt Disney in 1929 to hire and train new artists for the fledgling Disney Studio). Linda, an avid reader of illustrated books, became encouraged toward painting by the works of the famous illustrators Howard Pyle, NC Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, Arthur Rackham, and later by the paintings of Andrew Wyeth. At the age of ten, she was given John Gnagy's Art Studio in a Box. It contained instructional books with supplies for drawing, oil and watercolor painting. She also had several opportunities to visit the works of her favorite artists through visits to the Los Angeles Museum of Art and the Barnsdale Park Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Linda's drawing skills were perfected through years of life drawing classes at Long Beach City College, where she studied watercolor under the professional eye of Mike Daniel (from 1981-1992).

Author and Illustrator

My life as an active Plein Air Painter and Portrait Artist has changed to that of Author and Illustrator. In 2021 I wrote and published the book FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE, A TRILOGY which includes much of my collection of ‘fantasy’ paintings. I’ve learned that writing is much like creating a painting as they both begin and conclude with my imagination.
I do hope to occasionally create new paintings and will be keeping an ongoing sketchbook journal of my activities as the author of FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE, A TRILOGY. I will be sharing images from my new journal, paintings and written work here.

My home life remains happily the same with my husband and thirty-eight-year-old parrot, Sweetpea.

Color In Your Life (interview)
In June 2018 Linda was interveiwed by Graeme Stevenson, from the television series Color in Your Life, where she did a live plein air painting from a vantage point overlooking the beach at Point Fermin, CA. Below are some stills from the CIYL video that offer a peek into Linda's personal history as well as a couple of her most useful watermedia painting tricks. To see the techniques demonstrated in context of her painting, watch the CIYL video

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