About Us:
A Mostly True Bio of Gary Gumble

I started my art career at a very young age, carefully coloring inside the lines of his coloring books. Not content merely to stay inside the lines, I even darkened the lines.

Maybe it was my early desire for precision that led me, post high school, into the field of technical illustration, where precise lines are must. It only took a few short years, however, before I grew weary of nothing but black lines and began to lust for color.

This desire for color led me to art school at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

It was there that I not only learned to color outside the lines, but learned to not even use lines. The school rewarded me for my lack of lines with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Thereafter, my art career veered into commercial illustration for eighteen years, first in Minneapolis, then Chicago and finally the Seattle area. It was also in the Northwest that my art career turned again and returned to fine art, where it still rests today.

I am a signature member of the Northwest Pastel Society and can often be found giving art demonstrations before local art groups and teaching pastel workshops in the area.

Regardless of whether you choose to call what you do fine art or illustration, I believe the words of George Bernhard Shaw, "Without art the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable".

Although these words were written a long time ago, I feel they were never more true than today.

It is the meaning of those words that pushed Gary to found BeginningArtist.com and put to use his forty years of experience in art.

My goal is to inspire all who want to improve their drawing and painting skills and give them the instruction they need to make art to the best of their abilities.