HOME
Now for a less "sophisticated" narrative in case you're interested in how this all came to be. . . Through what I considered at the time be a highly annoying hardware failure, I ended up getting on the internet in March, 1996. Always being a "knowledge and information junkie" I was "hooked" from the start and soon my social life completely disappeared and the computer became my best friend. I spent 12 hours a day and more surfing the net. I became obsessed with learning to do my own web page and succumbed to the purchase of a "for Dummies" book. Since I'm a very "hands on" person, after reading for what seemed like an eternity of two hours, I could stand it no more and attacked my first page. Within another two hours, I had it up on the internet and was totally enthralled. I promised on that first page to expand it in time and make it more interesting, but fate had other things in store for me because the internet was about to totally change my life. I never went back to that first page. At the time, I was involved in trying to get a business going that was going nowhere fast. But, I gave it my all and produced a web site for that business. It forced me to learn very fast. With the creation of that first "real" site, I became excited about the beginnings of a new skill. So came my next obsession. How could I make my living through the internet. This work was far too much like fun! I had 18 years experience in the computer mainframe field and had previously managed a portrait artist for six years. Then there were two years of selling printing and graphics. A seedling of an idea formed. . .a gallery for portrait artists. It was something that I was uniquely qualified to do based on my past experience. I searched the internet, and there were no web sites that specialized in portrait artists. I continued to muse and conceptualize. I wondered if anyone would be interested. I wondered if I had the ability to create a site that would have the drama, class and beauty I envisioned. Even as I started on the project, my attitude was to just play with it a bit and see what developed. Months of hard work followed, much involved in redoing the graphics on the site many times as a result of my inexperience. During the development stage of the site, a portrait artist I met online, encouraged me to attend the American Society of Portrait Artists festival in Montgomery, Alabama in the beginning of November. I drove 1,500 miles to that festival and the rest is history. Many thanks to Gordon Wetmore, former Chairman of the ASOPA Advisory Board and current Chairman of the Board for Portrait Society of America, who allowed me to set up my computer to demonstrate the site on the second day of the festival. This, despite not even being a part of the official program. Working with the artists has been wonderful. It has expanded and enriched my life beyond measure. I will be eternally grateful for the "fluke" that first brought me to the internet. Restaurant where my son is chef ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------>>> |
See copyright information for complete details.
Site designed by A Stroke of Genius, Inc.