My Story
For as long as I can remember, I have loved to draw and color. One of my earliest memories is of me on the living room floor with my crayons and coloring book. It would get so frustrating when Yellow, my cat, would plop down in the middle of the coloring book while I was diligently trying to stay in the lines.
Whenever I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answer was always, “An artist!” the replies received were often, “you don't want to be a starving artist.” I will never tell my young students that! Though it has been tough at times to make ends meet, I will not give up being an artist. That is what I am.
In junior high I got into an art class for an elective, which was hard to accomplish because tons of kids wanted in. For the “Design the Cover “ of our year book contest came up, I entered and won! Again in high school it was very hard to get into an art class but I did finally and loved it! Straight “A's” in that class, and the teacher was tough. Even though I showed a lot of talent, there was no encouragement to become an artist, so the other electives were in office training education, what girls were expected to be, a secretary of sorts. Women has come a long way since then, thank God. Even before I got out of high school I had a secretarial type of job, all the while still sketching and playing around with art in my spare time.
My mother collected antique cups and saucers, and branched out into many other items while I was growing up. The painted pieces I especially admired and assumed no one did that kind of art anymore. I was wrong about that, and learned of a teacher locally and had to beg her to let me into a class. I was the youngest student among many grandmothers but was determined to learn and even got a kiln to do my own firing. After a divorce and having two young daughters, I could not afford classes anymore but never quit painting. I fell in love with porcelain painting and dreamed of one day having my paintings in the China Decorator Magazine. That dream came true in in the September-October 2011 issue.
My porcelain art was in eleven issues, and on the cover of issue April-May-June 2016! So wished my original porcelain painting teacher was alive to that. She would've been so proud.
Shopping for dolls for my girls, I found the Doll Cottage. Judy Hayes owned the shop and knew me through her husband, and knew that I painted. She encouraged me to learn the art of porcelain doll painting. In 1994 I got a business license, “Summer Celeste Porcelain Art Studio. “ I became a doll artisan, and next thing I knew had dolls in her shop and was teaching the art of porcelain dolls as well to adults and had doll making weekly classes for kids in the summer. Along with that, I started supplying tile shops with hand painted tiles and custom ordered tile murals. Good thing, because I lost my “secretarial” job due to a down-sizing in bad economy. Low and behold, I am “An Artist” after all. “Funny how things work out the way they are supposed to”, I say with a broad smile on my face.
In 2021, the editor of the “Porcelain Artist” magazine, a publication of the International Porcelain Artist and Teachers, Inc. contacted me and asked if I would like to submit some of my porcelain paintings to them. Of course! The next issue July-August-September 2021 there was an article and several of my painting inside, but the best thing was I'M ON THE COVER! First time submitting and published with this magazine I felt honored and accomplished.
Yours Truly,
Summer Celeste
