by Deborah Fine

Like all little kids, I loved to paint and draw. When I entered high school my career counselor ofered me to ways forward. The first involved taking trigonometry, calculus, and chemistry. The second was a major in art. It didn't take me a second to decide. I took high school art classes from a well known portrait artist and became a realistic painter.

I applied to Carnegie Tech (now known as Carnegie Mellon University) because it was not far from Philadelphia where I lived. They were known for their art program. Andy Warhol had graduated from there. It seemed like a good idea. My father wanted me to major in art education so I could teach as a fall back, but I wanted to major in fine art even though I had no idea what that might entail.

As I quickly learned, life had a way of interrupting my best laid plans. Marriage and children and the need to earn a living required a change of direction. I realized when I was shopping for baby furniture for my first child that there was a need for a high end store, so I opened a children's furniture store. The business blossomed and I added several stores.

Thirty years later, after my son and daughter graduated from college and were on their own, I picked up my brushes and started again, expecting to continue as a realistic artist.

There was an art school down the street from where I was living. I signed up for a class without looking at the syllabus, and it was an abstract art class. I immediately fell in love with this new direction. I began working with pastels. I won a few contests, had work selected by a prominent Philadelphia museum and became represented by a well known Philadelphia gallery.

My career was off and running. I began painting with acrylics in a larger format. My work was placed in the main entry of major hospitals, lawyers offices as well as art collectors. I was recently honored when a major organization requested my work to appear on the cover of their magazine.

I began to travel frequently. And, as transporting brushes and paints was difficult, I began working on my iPad. It took a while to achieve the same voice that had become my trademark, but it has come together and now I can work wherever I happen to be.

I first came to, and fell in love with, San Miguel 55 years ago when my then husband and I were camping all over Mexico. Fifteen years ago my current husband and I, looking for a place to escape the cold winters in Philadelphia, came for a month. We rented a place that had plenty of room for me to paint and he had space to write. A few years ago a dear friend of ours moved here and ever since we've been visiting for a month each year.

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Deborah Fine's career moved into high gear when she evolved into abstract painting. Success, measured by critical acclaim, awards, magazine covers, placement in hospitals, and in homes of prominent collectors throughout the United States, happened quickly.

Working essentially in acrylics and pastels, often in large square formats, she quickly became one of the most respected and requested artists represented by Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia's premier contemporary gallery. In December, her work will be featured at the grand opening of the gallery's second location in Miami.

www.deborahfine.net

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