I have lived in the Cuernavaca area for over 31 years, been married to Tim for over 32 years and have lived in Austin for over 33 years. My first formal experience with art was in the fourth grade when I actually had an art teacher, Ms. Crist, who I’m pretty sure had strongly influenced me since hers is the only name I readily remember from grade school. I was blessed to be able to take art classes in high school where I was exposed to different mediums. I continued studying art at Wayne State University in downtown Detroit in the late 70’s and also the University of Texas at Austin in the early 80’s. In the 90’s I took watercolor classes with Mary Doerr on and off for years.  Before I retired from the Postal Service I started taking oil painting classes with Debra Johnson. My paints had been under the house for almost 30 years and I could not for the life of me remember how to paint in oil. Not long after that I met Bea Baldwin who gave me “The Artists Handbook” which is a wonderful technical reference. Now that I am old enough to be retired from the workforce I have the time to move my creative nature past hobby to what I am calling my “next life”, that of a professional artist. I am very excited to be part of the CAC which has already helped further me in the pursuit of my “next life”. Seda, the name I sign my art with, was given to me as a teenager by the older brother of a lifelong friend. It’s a shortened, stylized version of the long Polish name I was born with and ditched completely when I married Nolan. All of my life no one could correctly pronounce my maiden name and ironically few pronounce Seda correctly. The “e” is short and you roll that “d”. Like a teenager, pronounce the second syllable “duh”!