Billie Mann
My father would give me the cardboard that came with his shirts from the cleaners in addition to the sketchbooks I already had. I made scrapbooks with newspaper clippings of The Beatles, and I drew in the margins. I loved my crayons and pencils and my little cartoon horse soap-operas, which I would take to school to show the other kids. In high school, I sketched a lot of the covers of Glamour magazine, and I also enjoying drawing Catherine Deneuve from her Chanel ads in the '70's.
My old grade school books were filled with sketches of faces and eyes....I think that's why my grades weren't better! I just wanted to draw all the time instead of study. I was one of those who doodled in the corners of my textbooks so that when I flipped the pages, I had a little "animated cartoon" of sorts going on...usually this was the kind of thing I did in my math and science classes. I graduated from Durham Academy High School in Durham, North Carolina, in 1976, and in college I got to do what I really wanted, which was to take classes in various areas of art, english, and film. I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Stephens College in Columbia, MO. in 1980. I moved back to Durham in 1982, and to Raleigh, NC in 1994, where I currently live.
Eventually I decided to try oil painting - I'd never painted before, so I took a couple of oil painting classes in late 2002, really just to learn what materials to buy and use, and some basic techniques. I did a couple of seascapes and some other subjects, then stopped for awhile. But in 2005 a friend of mine (John Read of CrazyCollars) asked me soon after that if I could paint animals....and here I am. I started "Art by Billie" as a serious venture in January of 2006.
My lifelong love of art and animals has brought me here to this great little corner of the world...I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.