I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but moved with my family when I was five years old to Miami, Florida. What a great place to grow up and come of age. “I remember my very first day in school, the teacher asked who the artist was in class. I raised my hand knowing it was me but I didn’t know what an artist was.” In my heart, I just knew. My mother has always been my inspiration. She was a nurse but on her days off, she would paint. I would come in from school and watch her paint very detailed Clipper Ships. I did not know this was being an artist. She had so much fun, that that was all I wanted to do too. When I was fifteen, I was enrolled in a Commercial Art Program for three years. That was a very good all around foundation for any artist. After that, it was college but I was too antsy to stay with it, I just wanted to paint. Being young I thought I knew everything. After getting married at twenty-one and having a child I worked hard on my art at home. Since I did not drive, my husband would take me to the public library on Saturdays and I would check out all these big, heavy art books. My interests back then was Rembrandt, for his genius on value and contrast. Rembrandt remains to this day my greatest influence on how I can continue to paint. I absolutely loved Van Gogh for his freedom with color and brushwork. When I discovered Edgar Degas, I fell in love. I read each and every one of those big books. If only we had computers and the internet back then… http://www.lindadragonette.com/