Santa Fe Artist Abigail Winston

I think I was born an artist. I drew recognizable Mickey Mouses at age two. My mother was a trained painter, and I know of at least two other ancestors, both women, who were artists. My mother read art history to me and took me to museums a lot, especially The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, and when we visited Chicago, The Chicago Art Institute. She gave me the run of her art books. For Christmas, my favorite gifts were art books and supplies.

My mother also used to do art projects with me. The one I remember the most is torn colored paper collages. This collage work later inspired the felt appliqué crafts I have done for several years, here in Taos. As a child, I drew in graphite pencil-horses, of course-copying photos out of magazines. I also worked with colored pencil, and pen and ink. I painted in water colors, using them more like gouache. When Mom thought I was old enough (14?) she gave me her oil paints and showed me how to lay them out on a palette. She also set me up with a studio in a side room in the garage and gave me her easel. I was in seventh heaven.

In high school, I had a wonderful art teacher, Frank Rogers, who had trained at the Museum School in Boston. He encouraged me very much and had me experiment with various mediums, including egg tempera. In the summers, I painted in my garage studio, in oils. (What I wouldn't give to have it now, moths and all!) At Senior graduation I won a prize for best artist. Meanwhile, I had found dance, which is another story.

After a long hiatus in which, besides dancing I designed costumes and choreographed for my creative outlet, I moved to Taos, New Mexico. When my mother died, I went to a counselor to help me to cope with the loss . He wanted me to write my feelings every day. I said, “I don't write.” He asked, “What do you do?” My answer was, “I paint.” He started me with oil pastels, which I loved, and I was off and running, creating a large series of drawings in which each derived from a small section of the previous one. That really got the juices flowing. Not long after, I switched to acrylics, then oils, which I like the best. Thank you, Michael, you gave me back my art!

Switch to the present. I have quit making the felt appliqué crafts, permanently, I hope. (One can only spend so many years at a sewing machine.) I have found clouds-the subject for another essay-and the possibilities with them are endless. I have so many new ideas that I have to write them down. I am now trying to paint full time, working concurrently on two series. What a joy it is to paint!