People are fascinating
I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, and several years ago I started acrylic painting. I grew up in Florida in the small country town of Oviedo. That means I am some kind of a Southernah or just plain ole 'country'.
As a child, I remember my Mom hanging paintings of flowers on the walls, just flowers because it was hard to find paintings of Black people in the 60’s. One day in my early teens Mom brought home a magazine (I think it may have been Southern Living), it featured an article called "Jericho.” Jericho was a display of incredible paintings of Black people like I know Black people. Not cartoonish, but like I could touch and feel them, it was similar to Renaissance portraiture. I was inspired by that article; I even drew one of the paintings. So, when I started drawing people, all kinds of people; I asked God to help me draw in detail and exact likenesses, And He did just that! It was at that time I discovered charcoal, and from then on it has been an artistic adventure. I enjoy the vibrant enthusiasm in paintings, but I love the simplicity and intensity of charcoal.
You might notice that I sign my art as Penny, that's the nickname my Grandmother Marie gave me, she gave everybody nicknames. I've been signing my art Penny since I drew my first stick person. My family, most of my friends all call and know me as Penny.
I see wonderful things in people. I guess because I am looking for wonderful things in people. Nevertheless, I hope my art inspires you to see beauty in everything, flowers, trees, dogs, pies, smiles and especially people. Just like Barbara Streisand says when she sings PEOPLE... “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” That's so me, I'm not just lucky, I'm blessed because I need people!
Wonda Granville: (Reside and work in Orlando, FL) She received a B.S. and M.B.A. from Strayer University.