Spotlight on Gaye Sekula, Texas Ambassador

While waiting to hear from the rest of the Texas Top Ten Competition winners, I thought you might be interested in knowing more about me,  your Texas Ambassador.

"Abigail", 7"x 5", Pastel

Name: Gaye Sekula

Current City: Converse, Texas

Website: sekulastudio.com

Blog: gayesekula.blogspot.com

1. When and how did you first become seriously interested in art? I don't have a reference point from which to answer definitively but, it has been at least 10 years and has been almost all consuming.

2. What is your training and what mediums/subject matter do you work in? I have taken, and continue to take, workshops with the best artists I can afford. I also have an extensive DVD collection and library. I have spent most of my waking hours for the past 10 years studying and/or creating art. It is a labor of love and a source of pure joy. I am currently most interested in portraits, with landscapes running a close second. Vignettes of both are my passion.

3. What do you express in your work? I try to express a sense of place or personality, depending on the subject. While I admire fully rendered paintings, I much prefer the look of sketches/vignettes, which give the viewer the chance to fill in the blanks and create a story of their own.

4. What artists/professionals have been your biggest influence? Artists who have been most influential are Carolyn Anderson, Nicolai Fechin, Robert Liberace, Laura Robb, Joaquin Sorolla and Jeffrey Watts. Other professionals include Twyla Tharp and Dorothea Lange.

5. What do you do to gain new inspiration in your work? Head to New Mexico! When that isn't possible, I go through my collection of art DVD's, look at a favorite artist's work online or in books and, if I am feeling blocked, I take a workshop in a totally different medium.

6. What would you like to be doing with your art ten years from now? I find setting goals too far in advance to be a hindrance. If I wrote done goals for ten years from now, I would be too focused to notice other paths or opportunities that may open in the meantime. I try to keep my goals set to one year at a time. As I accomplish one goal, I immediately add another. Using the S.M.A.R.T acronym, (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely), has been one of the most effective things I have ever done.

7. Do you set goals for yourself? I do and rarely share them. Sharing goals seems to invite unsolicited advice. Keeping them to myself insures that I am hearing my own voice and staying on my own path.

8. Are you happy in your job choice as an artist? Do you have any regrets in this career choice or things you would have done differently? I am very happy with my job choice. It's impossible to live with a few regrets but, since we cannot change things, it is best to look forward rather than backwards.

9. Any fun or interesting facts about yourself you'd like to share? I would like to answer with a quote from Georgia O'Keeffe, "I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do".

10. Best piece of advice for other artists? Your voice is just as important as anyone else's. Be who YOU were born to be!