Lindy Crandell
My mother was an artist, so I grew up being encouraged and inspired by her wonderful talents.
All I ever wanted to be was an artist, but when I went to college, I quickly realized that there might be a way to direct my talents toward something that would result in a “real” job. This led me to switch my focus to interior design. I worked as a commercial interior designer for over 20 years specializing in executive offices, law firms and corporate facilities. Even though I loved this work, I still wanted to paint. When my husband’s job took us to live in Tokyo, Japan for four years, I left my career as an interior designer and I put my time to use by going back to art school. Rendering and drafting for 20+ years tightened my artistic style but my real training came from those four years of studying art in Tokyo. I started right back with basic drawing and studied my way to pastels, colored pencils and oils. I also studied sumi-e painting from a marvelous sensei in Japan. When we returned to the USA, I continued my education by taking many classes at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids and have attended multiple workshops by noted artist Larry Blovits and others.
I love to work in oils, but I also usually have a colored pencil or pastel painting going at the same time. My work has been seen in many shows and galleries in West Michigan where I live half of the year. The winter half of the year I live in Aiken, SC where I am an active member of the Aiken Art Guild.