CHARLENE DUDLEY HENSLEIGH

An artist is always in a learning process; therefore, I am continuing my studies through various workshops. My teachers have had a great impact on my attitude about life and about art. I am grateful to each of them for their patience and understanding. In addition to painting for gallery showings, my partner, Sharon Mann, and I paint murals for the private sector.

The world around us is filled with beauty. I have always been aware of this and have had a desire to put it on canvas. However, in the process of raising four children, working full-time, and deciding to finish my college degree in "late life", it seemed the time to learn a new craft was difficult to come by. Finally realizing that we must simply make time for the things that are important in our lives, I began taking art classes on a weekly basis, as well as workshops.

There is more to painting than reproducing a likeness of an object or a scene. Art is projecting a feeling, an aura, or the essence of a subject. I also believe that in order to fully enjoy happiness, we must share it with others. If I, through my art, can cause someone's day to be a little more pleasant, even for just a fleeting moment, then I have accomplished my painterly purpose.

Besides SMAA, I am a member of the MIssissippi Watercolor Society and Capitol Art Group. My work is currently hanging in the Southern Breeze Gallery in Jackson, MS and in the Jackson Street Gallery in Ridgeland, MS.

I have studied drawing with Sam Gore and Bobby Pennebaker, oils with Myra Green, and watercolor with Doris Nunn and Ann Barron.

I have participated in oils workshops held by JoAnna Arnette, Greg Faigan, Daniel Green, Robert Johnson, Debbie High, Ann Warner, and Lucy Mazzaferro.

I have taken watercolor workshops with James Asher, Tom Lynch, Richard Stevens, Judi Betts, and Don Andrews.