I am Sandy McDermott, owner of and sole artist for Birchtree Studio, a fine art and illustration studio in Exeter, NH. I have been illustrating natural history and teaching the basics of drawing and painting for over fifteen years. My collection includes illustrations for books, magazine articles, a college science lab manual, t-shirt designs, logos, murals, trail signs and much more.
Recently, I decided to add a journey into Fine Arts to this ménage of artistic dabbling. Using watercolors, I am exploring the natural world with a new enthusiasm! Self-taught over the past few years, soon I will begin studying under Becky Darling, a watercolorist out of south-central NH. She is represented by the McGowan Gallery of Concord and Portsmouth. With her guidance I hope to master this very difficult medium to produce vibrant celebrations of the wildness that surrounds my world.
Like many folks, art has always been a passion, starting at a very young age. While the passion was there, the guidance necessary to foster and develop that passion was absent as a child. Although my mother gave me plenty of time to draw, color and sculpt whatever I could find, there wasn’t enough money to put me into classes where constructive projects, structure and guidance builds up a young person’s skills and confidence. Eventually, the coloring and drawing was no longer holding my interest and soon followed the loss of any confidence I might have had.
Nonetheless, over the years I kept finding myself pulled towards art. Although I never took an art class in high school, I did find enough confidence to pursue a class after graduation. Thus began the renewed passion and eventual career as an artist.
It is amazing how quickly time goes by. Parts of my road have been very difficult; most of it has been astoundingly wonderful. Look for a visual time line to be added to my website later in 2010. It will be a wonderful tool for anyone wishing to pursue a career in art but thinking that they don’t have what it takes. For others, it will be an eye-opening account of one artist’s struggle to follow a dream.
On these pages you will find information about all the Services I offer, a Portfolio of my work, a list of Classes, Where to Find my art, and Contact information. If you wish to view more details of my background, visit the Bio page.
If you have questions about what you see or read here, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Enjoy and thank you for visiting!
With gratitude,
Sandy McDermott |
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