"I don't do that, but I think I could if I tried," she said with an easy smile.
Vinson has the feature display right now at Art Lovers, a collection of wildlife photos she calls, "Where the Wild Things Are". And, though they are her featured art right now, just looking around the store you can find a lot more of Ann.
"These aren't mine," she said, pointing to a pair of beaded earrings, "but I do make earrings like that." On the coffee table in front of the store's seating area, she has a photo cards, with pictures of her other artwork or of wildlife, above her head are a collection of colored pencil drawings of the big cats, tigers and leopards, and by her feet is a bright orange poppy painted in acrylics.
"I think I've always drawn, from those drawings we all do kindergarten, ever since. My parents bought me a drawing kit when I was 10 and I was hooked. They were always buying me some sort of art kit because I loved it so much."
"Right now, it feels like it's time for photography," she said. So, that's where she's been concentrating her efforts, but that doesn't mean her other art is being ignored. She has hand-crafted pendants sculpted in clay that she mixes herself to get the right color tones then bakes together the creations of clay and beads. And she makes her own beads for those earrings we talked about earlier.
Ann has devoted just about her entire life to art, with a little time out to get a degree in journalism advertising. She has designed t-shirts for the Greek system at the University of Illinois and painted murals on churches, and found her passion in art.
"Jesus is my life, but art is my passion," Ann said. And, her desire to make the most of her God-given talent and give something back to her church led to her other sideline, Ann Vinson mural painter.
"I had never been able to tithe like I wanted to, but I had this talent and a very open-minded pastor. So I asked him if I could paint a mural as my way of tithing. We spent some time working out the contents and they bought the paint," she said. When it was done, Ann put her other talents to work.
"I made up a flyer and posted it at Kroger and sent out letters to the local churches, offering to paint murals for them too."
Now, Ann has developed a small following of people for whom she has painted murals, some who have asked for her to do multiple murals. Her murals can be customized to whatever people want. In one nursery mural, she featured the family pets transformed into stuffed animals.
Ann says she comes by her love of arts and crafts naturally. Her grandfather was an aerial photographer and "I come from a long line of people who work with their hands" she said. "My other grandfather was a comedian in a Vaudeville act."
Ann supplements her income as a poor starving artist with her job at Hobby Lobby, so she is always doing something art-related. "And when they need me, in my free time, I do some substitute teaching," she said. "Eventually, I think I'd like to go back and get my teaching certificate and do that full-time."
Right now, she said, her art doesn't even exactly pay for itself,Stud Earrings. "I knew that by the time I paid for the mats and the frames and the ink, I probably wouldn't make any money with this show, but it's about getting your work out there and getting the exposure."
And, it's about using whatever tools you have available. "When I designed t-shirts in Champaign, we use to say that ,'If it's cute, it'll sell.' You'd get so sick of hearing that. Now, I have a new rule. If it's big and red and abstract, it'll sell on eBay," she said.
Ann has sold several of her paintings on eBay, including a seascape she sent to Florida. And, her is slowly finding its way around the region too. She ahs won several local photography contests including competitions at HerrinFesta Italiana, the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge and the John A. Logan Museum.
"Really, I think there are a lot of talented people out there who are just afraid to put something on paper or try it once and vie up because it isn't perfect," Ann said. "I'd just like to see more people try."
The one warning she has is that art can be time-consuming. "I don't think it's something you can rush," Sue Mills, owner of the gallery, added.
And it steals your time away, Ann added. "One hour of art time becomes ten hours in real life. I sit down to paint for just a little while and before I know it, the day is gone."
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