The day I was born, the doctor drew 'Xs' on my mother's stomach to
show the position of my heart. Her stomach was black with 'Xs' by
the time I entered the world on the 2nd day of July, 1955 at 2:30
in the afternoon. I have continued to run at high octane speeds
ever since . Even my heart pumps faster than most people's
hearts. I assume it means I will leave this world sooner than
most. While I'm here, though, I intend to enjoy myself and one
the the things I enjoy is creating art.
My mother is a schooled artist, having been a student at the
Art Institute of Chicago and her love and skill with art were
passed on to me. I have been drawing since I was young. I
never got the quality of drawing that my mother had and I
was quite hard on myself, never quite happy with what I
created. I stopped drawing and painting during my 20s
and did not get back into art until many years later. I
joined the Aurora Art League and started painting with
acrylics and watercolors. I still paint and belong to the
Art League; it is wonderful to spend time with like
minded people.
At the age of 40, my husband bought me my first computer. A co-worker lent me a copy of Tomb
Raider 1 and Alone in the Dark 1. I was hooked on PC games from that moment. I spent many
years playing, buying and trading games and one day I bought a game created by Peter Hewitt of
www.mulawa.net. This talented and generous man created a series of beginner lessons for Bryce
4 and a gallery page for us beginners to upload our images to. I forgot PC games and entered the
online art world. I have never looked back.
With Bryce (a 3D terrain rendering application similar to Vue) I created much art, joined online
galleries, made many friends and won more software in contests and challenges. I won a copy of
Xara Xtreme 2 and was so impressed with it that I convinced Peter Hewitt to purchase a copy. He
uses it for all text work in his games and his images. He says it handles text better than any other
program he has used.
I have not worked with 3D applications for a long while, instead I have concentrated on learning
to use Xara Xtreme. I take photographs and create images in Xara Xtreme to send to Peter for use
in his jigsaw puzzle game subscription. Between Xara Xtreme and my photographs, I have sent
Peter over 1300 images. He has not used all my photographs but he has used all my Xara Xtreme
images for his jigsaws.
Xara Xtreme continues to interest me and TalkGraphics continues to inspire me. I have learned so
much very quickly due to the amount of knowledge and quick responses from all the members of
its forum. I hope to always continue learning and gathering new ideas and inspiration, to grow in
skill and knowledge till I can give back to the community that has helped me so much.
Nancy Griffin (burpee)
The Xara Xone Featured Artist Gallery
©2009 Gary W. Priester
All images are copyright of their owner and cannot be reproduced without written
consent of the author/owner
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