Got some fan mail and she had a great interview question

Rose found one of my prints at a Salvation Army in Henderson, Nevada,
copied my name down and wrote to me that I am now her favorite living artist. They must be the prints from that hung at Treasure Island on the strip in Vegas selected by Steve Wynn when he owned the hotel.
They remodel and the work just gets liquidated. Rose asked some good interview questions. My answer is first and her questions are below.

Rose,
What great interview questions, those are so to the point.
I became interested in art in a serious way in the 7th grade.
I loved Vincent Van Gogh and was caught up in the romance
of being able to not conform. I painted murals and had a very good friend that discussed art and painted with me, she was influenced by Picasso.
I really didn't know that was where she was getting her info from.
She makes mosaics now. www.eraybeemosaics.com
I did study art in grade school and graduated high school as the art Student of my Class with an award.
I went to Art School within the big University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and then to Graduate Art School within the big University of Texas in Austin.
I pursued all sorts of avenues in Public Art, Teaching, Exhibiting and Curating Exhibitions.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1983 with the hopes of making my work more salable so I could earn a living from just creating it.
I met art consultants who showed me I could sell my work without exhibiting it and that most sales were outside the show situation.
I made a gazillion works on paper.
In 1990 I began to show at Pacific Gallery in Laguna Beach.
That year I started the basic black vase series and the collage series which became the "UNstill Life Series" and the "Personal Archaeology Series".
I became repped by Studio 84 West and they placed my collages and then later the "Fiesta Series" based on the "Unstill Life Series" in galleries all over the country.
Everyone thought of Matisse when they looked at them.
I started with observation of a set up still life for the first few Still Lifes and every now and again go back to that, but the true excitement of my work grew from self referencing and doing a lot of pieces, each one taking off from an earlier one.
I like to pick an earlier work to look at as I begin but I am looking for great color and movement and texture and sort of a mood more than an observation of a setup. It became like a personality that grew over time.
I love de Kooning's abstractions and Milton Avery and Matisse's use of narrative space. I love Dufy's drawing with shifting color patches underneath.
Thanks so much for asking Rose.
Joyce

Joyce,

A couple of questions for you. Who are your favorite artists and how in the world did you learn to paint such beautiful art peices? Did you go to a art school of some kind or self taught?

Rose