Linda Brandon, Critiques Moderator

[Linda Brandon]

I've dragged my feet about posting my biography here for a long time (years?) because I have such an eclectic art background. I keep hoping to be able to add some impressive European atelier credentials but so far I've been thwarted in this.

I grew up littering my home basement with cartoons, messy art projects and solitary half-baked grand schemes.

I have a degree in radio/tv/filmmaking from the University of Michigan, with an honors concentration in animated films. This was pre-computer and has no practical significance except that I drew endlessly for years. One of the most thrilling moments of my life was the first time I saw one of my cartoons move on the screen. Every so often I come close to this feeling in my current portrait and figurative work, but not often enough.

I also worked as a television reporter and anchorwoman, graduated from NYU Law School, and was for a time a lawyer on Wall Street. None of this has any artsy significance, either. I add this in part to encourage those with little "formal" art training not to be terrorized in this frequently cruel world if your parents didn't have the wherewithal or the inclination to encourage your youthful art passions: in life, much is possible.

Apart from classes at Parsons and the Nassau County Museum of Art, most of my traditional art training has been through art classes and workshops at Scottsdale Artists School and other schools in the Phoenix area. I've been concentrating on portrait and figurative work for the past 12 years. I can't wait to get to work every day. As time and life allows I hope to study intensively with some of my art heros who are still alive and working. I am currently studying as intensively as I can with William Whitaker and I hope I don't embarrass him by saying so.

I recently started teaching locally in the Phoenix area. Some information about this is on my website.

I am very grateful to Cynthia and the Forum for giving me the opportunity to meet and learn from other artists.

[Mary Sparrow]

Linda, we share more than liking to paint portraits. I too majored in RTVMP, only at the University Of NC at Chapel Hill. The plan was to go on to work for a news station and like you, anchor, but I somehow ended up working for an arts and entertainment magazine in sales and later the art department.

[Patricia Joyce]

Linda,
Thank you for sharing your history here. It is supremely gratifying to read that you have little formal training as I truly admire your work. If you can do it, so can I (I say to myself!).

I don't think a 20 yr career as an accountant has prepared me for art either, but it has and does support my family and put food on my table. That is worth something. However, if I can be where you are in your art career, sometime in the next ten years, I will be very happy!

[Heidi Maiers]

Linda,
What an interesting background you have! A woman of many talents indeed.
At what point did you decide to forgo those illustrious carrers and become a full time painter? Was it when you had children and decided you would rather have a career where you could stay home doing what you love while raising them? You are one of the lucky ones.

[Linda Brandon]

Mary, I'll bet you would have been better at it than I was.

Patricia, thank you for the compliment, and I hope nothing I wrote here could be construed as disrespect to animators. The artists I know who have some animation history do very fine work indeed. Now I'm just waiting for Cynthia to start a "Cartoons and Caricatures" Forum category.

Heidi, you're right, I'm terribly lucky on all counts. One of the benefits of living in the Jurassic Period was that college was easier to get into than it is today.

[Rob Sullivan]

Gee, Linda - why did you leave off the Celtic archaeological dig, the deep sea exploration with Jean-Yves Cousteau and your retracing the expedition of Admiral Peary?

Okay, aside from those things, you have certainly gone beyond hip-deep in some very serious careers! And now you have waded into the world of art via portrait painting. Yeah, that's another easy one. What's enviable is the fact that you have achieved so much in your paintings for someone who, um, "got a little sidetracked" early on.

Let me publicly state how much I appreciate your volunteerism here as well as your personal support and friendship.

[Jean Kelly]

Hi Linda,

I believe your "eclectic" background has contributed positively to your painting and the appreciation of your subject. I've come to the realization that the choices we make only enhance our next decision, and build on all our prior experiences. When will you be posting your nude???

Jean