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Artist Profile: Desree Pettera

Desree Pettera

3224 Old Hwy 40
Junction City, KS 66441

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Bio:

I am a person who has loved art all her life. Just never realizing how much until recently. When I returned to college to finish my degree, an Art Appreciation class was a pre-requisite. The instructor gave me a B and it kind of ticked me off. So I thought....I need more electives so I'll take an art class from him. I was pretty dumb. I had no idea how to use charcoal or paint. I remember him telling us to draw an egg with charcoal and not just the outline of an egg. Didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I sure had fun. Boy, did I ask some dumb questions. By the time I got done with that class, I was addicted to art. I was able to take one more class from him, but for personal reasons I could not continue I knew if I didn't just put art away into a deep dark corner, I would never get away from it. So, that is what I did. I finished my Degree in Business and continued to become a "Jack of all Trades". I have been a bus Boy, bar tender, bar manager, cook. Then on to banking & more banking classes. I was involved in lending, finance, loan review, clerical work...... The educational part of my resume is so long it won't fit on two pages. At the same time I was heavily involved in our registered cattle operation. I quit Banking and dove into the cattle operation 100% and then I started a Water Well Business. I learned so much more....electrical, plumbing, geology, etc. I was still chasing something and had no idea why. I didn't know at the Time, but I think I was running away and hiding from my passion for art. I retired a couple years ago and put off picking up that brush. I looked at my paints and brushes quite often and wondered how to paint again. I had just about forgotten everything. I took a paint in class to try and learn again. Wrong. I was hoping for someone to show me how to use brushes and mediums again. Little did I know the stinky mediums I was trying to use, were not used anymore. I did stink the place out. I signed up for Plein Air in Kansas City not knowing what it was. Thought it would be a good way to learn how to paint again. Wrong again. I U Tuned and Googled until I was blue in the face! Now I was desperate. I texted my previous College Art Instructor & Fine Artist, Don Dernovich, OPA. He said he spent all his time in the studio now and did not teach anymore. My heart sank but I didn't give up. I kept pestering him with questions. If it wasn't for this Artist, I would have never found what I needed to truly be happy......ART! I feel very fortunate to have hi m there to guide me now and I am learning so much. Not just about painting, but about myself. I don't care if I am a success or a failure in art. I sit by my easel day in and day out. Knowing every time I pick up a brush, my heart flows on that canvas. I am very lucky...I found true happiness! Don Dernovich, OPA, tells me this passion to follow art will never leave us. We will eventually just die with it. A very wise man!