creative, obsessive,

Biography:

My name is Kelly Anderson and I live with my best friend Patric in East Texas. I grew up in Gladewater, Texas and started my career as a Chemist but was hit by a drunk driver in 1990 and have spent the last 17 years as a paraplegic in a wheelchair and more recently as an artist.

I don’t think of myself as being disabled despite the everyday physical challenges. I have spent my life educating myself and others on how a disabled person can have a productive and enjoyable life and feel that I have been very successful at both. I am a founder and former President of a group called East Texas Wheelers and Walkers. A social group for the physically handicapped based on the concept of support through recreation. My philosophy for the group was always that “it is okay to give each other a hand up and a shoulder to lean on but there isn’t any reason why we can’t be having fun in the process.” I have a bachelors degree in English literature and Secondary education as well as being a certified jeweler all of which I accomplished after my wreck. My interests include animals, collecting Fenton glass, sewing, jewelry making, and last but not least creating Art.

I do suffer from chronic pain and have had difficulty establishing any kind of a career outside of my home and just a few years ago started doing art work to keep myself busy and inspired as well as to provide a few extra dollars to fill in the gaps. It has led me down a new road to self-discovery and has given me more confidence than I ever expected. The support from my friends in the art world as well as friends from the collecting world have given me a renewed interest in teaching myself to paint and draw better. I love learning and developing my skills as an artist and really enjoy hearing what other artists do to develop their own styles.

I have been experimenting with different art techniques over the past year and have really fallen into the habit of painting and drawing every day in some way or another. I am really intrigued by watercolor and watercolor pencil and the difficulty in controlling my paints while insuring that I still have enough sparkle left to really emphasize the light in my paintings. Watercolor is a new medium for me and I am enjoying learning how to mix colors and keep from creating mud by over mixing and having the paints break down before I can get it to lay down the way I want it to. I feel that conveying the feeling of light and emphasizing the shadows are my two major struggles with watercolors but I am always striving to overcome my weaknesses.

My husband and I enjoy the love of our two fur kids (cats) Xander and Ghost. I am a supporter of the local Animal Shelter and Alley Cat Allies and all of my cats are rescues. One of my cats were strays that me and Patric started feeding in our neighborhood and eventually caught and got spayed and neutered. I am also a supporter of the League for Animal Protection and like to let other low income or disabled people know that they can find the support to help them get their pets spayed and neutered through the leagues many community programs. There is no good excuse for unwanted and unloved pets. The only real solution is to make sure that YOU don’t let another litter of puppies or kittens be born from your own beloved pets. We can’t control others but we can control our own actions.