I am Tina Steele Penn. I first learned to paint at my mother’s kitchen table when I was five years old, when my big brother called me T. My sister called me T.A. and my dad called me Cat.
My mother, the artist, called me Tina.
To keep an eye on my sister and I while she painted, she sat us down with her homemade finger paints while she set up her easel in her farm kitchen and painted oils. I was painting in oils by the time I was seven years old. And I have been painting and drawing six decades hence.
The scent of linseed oil is as much a part of my memories of home as the smell of vegetable soup simmering on the stove, or fresh cornbread baking. And of course I watched her paint!
I never stopped painting. Studying and learning what didn’t come naturally to me, like drawing, I continued. I took art classes in college, then studied everything I could find in that old institution – THE LIBRARY!
Yes there is a lot of “Style” and “Technique” to be learned in painting, but the hard thing, and really the most important thing is to learn how to see. To see the shape of things overall. And then in fine detail. And then – how do they cast a shadow. And how does it change when the light changes, like on a cloudy day.
And of course there is mixing the paint and color theory.
The paintings on this website encompass years of trial and error, joy and fulfillment. Different stages of my life in different places. Please let me know if something truly resonates with you.
This collection is what I currently have on hand or have sold to private collectors in recent years.
As we used to say, “Come on in and have a seat, stay awhile!