smk is me..Susan :) I guess this all started with my first box of 8 big fat Crayola Crayons, then later advanced to 64 with a sharpener!  Scribble pictures! oh yeah! Remember those? At age 5 those were my idea of Masterpieces, ready for hanging.  Although, I have never ever considered myself an artist, drawing was something I've done all my life. Art was always my favorite class in school..and recess..and study-hall of course :) I remember my teachers writing notes on my homework..."NO Doodling" ..hey! why can they doodle on my paper if I can't?

Next stage...Marriage. Well, no time for drawing now. But then along came two kids..Cool!..crayons again. :) I used to sit the kids down and draw them pictures to entertain them. They both picked up on drawing and our frig wasn't seen for years. :)  Now they are grown-up but they both still draw. And yes, I still put their artwork on the frig. :)

I drew off and on when I got the time but then I gave up drawing some odd years ago when it started making my hands hurt too much. I have a Hereditary Neuromuscular Disease known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) or the newer term these days is called "Hereditary Motor-Sensory Neuropathy" (HMSN). One of the last drawings I ever did I donated to the MDA Art Museum and you can see it here, if you'd like.

One day several years ago, my daughter tells me, "Mom? You need a computer" .."yeah right!".."Seriously, you do." she says. "You can keep your bills and banking info on it and chat with people online..etc..etc.".."Yeah, Yeah, Yeah whatever, I don't need a computer Dear" ..........obviously, she won that argument because not only do I have a computer..I love it!

"Paint"..that freebie program that comes with all computers, was like my first box of 8 big fat crayons. Wow! what a discovery!  I could draw again, and make artwork! I fell in love with graphics and working with photos, and have been taking classes for the past few years for graphic art, logo designing, designing principles, digital painting, photography, HTML, web designing....just to name a few.

I will never stop learning to use new graphic programs, unless of course they stop making them. I am currently using Paint Shop Pro versions X, Painter IX, Adobe Photoshop Elements. CorelDraw 12 Draw and Photo-Paint and I use a Wacom table/pen.

Graphics and Artwork means many things to me. It's a passion, an obsession,  a stress reliever, sparks my imagination, fills losses, builds joys, gives me a sense of accomplishment. 

Well, that's sort of how I got here and who I am...smk graphic studio. A one-women-show-jack-of-all-trades-kinda-biz.. You could say it was my destiny. :)