I have been drawn to art and visual expression ever since a little girl, drawing with a twig in the dew-moistened sand of my driveway in rural Sumter county. But, as I got older the practicality of becoming an artist fell away to the pressures of parenthood. And so began my journey and 25 year career into the very technical world of Sub-Micron Micro Chip design, that would carry me from Houston, to Austin, to Dallas, to Silicon Valley, to Boston and then full circle back to Austin, Texas. But in the Spring of 2000 I began taking weekly evening oil-painting classes under the direction of Glenda Buehring, Austin’s Artist Harvest 1999 Artist of the Year. I have also taken various drawing and painting classes at the Austin Museum of Art - through which I have been greatly influenced by the paintings and techniques of Phillip Wade. Phillip is a wonderfully talented artist whose paintings and portraits bring to mind Rembrandt and John Singer Sargent. I find that I am most drawn to the methods and techniques of the Old Masters, therefore - Realism and Impressionism are the two forms I seem to be most comfortable with in expressing my artistic desires. I love landscapes, but have recently started to explore still life’s and portraiture. The majority of my work is in oil and acrylic, and I have been dabbling in watercolor for a while now.

I have served as Secretary and member of the Creative Arts Society of Austin’s Artist Guild- as well as a past member of the Waterloo Watercolor Group Artist Guild- also in Austin. I was most recently accepted by jury selection into the South Carolina State-wide Art Competition for the Florence Museum of Art and Science in Florence, South Carolina for my painting “Ashford Castle” during May 2005. I have also exhibited my work in group exhibits and shows in and around the Austin, Texas Metro area. I am currently a member of the Trenholm Artists Guild in Columbia, S.C. ,the Sumter Artists’ Guild in Sumter, S.C. and the South Carolina Watercolor Society and I have exhibited my work with those membership guild shows as well. I feel that God has blessed me in more ways than I could have ever imagined and I give him all of the glory of all of my achievements both in my personal and professional life.

For inquiries and more information - Please feel free to contact me at my residency in Sumter, South Carolina: 1265 Inabinet Drive, Sumter, S.C. 29154 (803)506-4757, I can also be contacted via email at: areebel@austin.rr.com