About T.M.Gand

Hi!  My name is T.M.Gand.  I’m an artist living in sunny Abilene, Texas.  Click here to see more of my work.  My specialty is color, texture, and layering affects on canvas with acrylics.

In The Beginning

Originally I studied structural engineering in the 90′s at a small private college in downtown Milwuakee, WI.  In 1995 after my third year there I married my sweetheart and moved to Texas to be with him.  Unfortunately, engineering schools were further away than expected, so the plan to finish my degree went on hiatus. 

New Opportunities Arise

In 2005 while working as the fine art secretary for a local university in Abilene, Texas, I decided to dive back into my studies.  I asked my boss and student advisor, Charlie Hukill, whether he thought I should start with Economics or Beginning Painting.  Before I had finished the question, he excitedly replied “Painting!”  That’s when I looked around his office and realized he was quite an avid and accomplished painter himself.  I took his advice and signed up for the class.  It helped that it also meant six hours away from my desk each week versus only three with economics.

Why economics or painting?  I had figured economics would apply toward most degrees.  Painting was an idea my twin sister had suggested to me throughout the years, asking over and over again ”won’t you paint with me?”  She wasn’t actually painting herself, but felt the drive and the want of it, and kept persisting with the question.  I’d always dodged her or the question, not really seeing myself as the creative type.  Not to mention the fact that anything I’d painted always turned out the same…a child-like painted line-drawing of a house, a tree, and grass.  And my experience often turned into frustration, making the paper turn more brown than anything.    Acrylic paint-by-numbers could only hold my attention so long before being abandoned.  It seemed paint was not my medium.

And So It Begins

So, having no real experience in painting, the beginning painting class both terrified and electrified me.  I wondered how I could possibly paint on an easel and create anything of value.    I had hoped that facing this fear would somehow soothe me in the end, and ease my crushing, chronic anxiety.    At the start I found myself obsessed with painting and what I could create with my tools.  As for my anxiety, it took a year or two of painting before my painting anxiety eased and I found solace in the canvas.  With each new piece, I pushed myself harder and more excitedly than ever before…and I realized at age 31 I’d finally found my passion.

Two years later a studio opened up downtown next door to a dear artist friend, ASH Almonte.  I was just beginning to explore my potential as an artist and found her presence comforting and inspiring.  I was also trying to use my 10×10 home office for too many tasks, including art studio, and needed some relief.  With the nudging of my husband, sister and friends, I signed a six month lease on studio 207.  It’s now been my painting home for over two years.   To date I have embarked on over 80 painting projects (more if I count the much smaller projects).  I’ve experimented like crazy with all kinds of techniques and mediums.  I love to push myself every time I paint in order to try and learn something new, do something different, or discover something about myself.  I look forward to continuing this journey, and to sharing it with you.

Oh, by the way, my sister, the one who kept asking me to paint with her…well, she ended up being a fantastic photographer!

-T.M.Gand