Wayne Thiebaud played in important part in my artistic development. The world has lost a fine painter and one big kind-hearted man.
Here’s the story….
In 1994, I was a single mom, with a full time job, living in NYC. I had just started painting the city, what I saw when I left my Sullivan St. apartment. Mostly these were small gouaches, 10″ x 10″. At Pearl Paint, I saw an announcement about an international competition sponsored by Lana Paper in France. I happened to work only on Lana paper so I entered one of my small gouaches and Wayne Thiebaud was the juror.
He picked my piece for First Prize (along with $5000)! I flew out to CA to accept the award and we became friends. He became a mentor to me. We would meet in NYC when he came to teach and I would sit in on his National Academy classes, we would have lunch, meet for a glass of wine whenever he came to town. This went on for a couple of years. He was always interested in my work. This came at such an important time for me. I needed this affirmation to continue my struggle to become a full time painter. So thank you Wayne, I’m sure I’m not the only artist who owes you a big debt.
