March 28, 2024

For the Love of Rust

Nov. 20, 2015

Working in pastels, painter Linda Collins specializes in portraits, pets and detailed images of rusting, rejected vintage cars.

“It’s the love of the old,” she explained while sitting in her home studio in rural Kalkaska County.

“The rust intrigues me. When you look at the rusty vehicles, they just look brown, but when you put the image on the computer and saturate it, it just pops out. There’s a lot of intrigue in things that have been forgotten.”

Toting a camera, Collins works from photographs of the aging autos, sometimes with help from others.

“I saw this old Ford truck sitting deserted in the woods and took a photo of it,” she said. “And one time I sent my granddaughter to a junkyard to get me photos of old cars. Then I work from the photos. In addition to the cars, I really love doing portraits.”

After a lengthy career as a state employee at several sites — Alcona, Alpena, Allegan, Roscommon and Harrison — Collins now focuses full time on creating art.

“I’m self-taught and am still learning,” she said. “I’ve never had formal training. I wish I could afford to take workshops, especially impressionistic, but I’ve been drawing and painting for many years. I’ve done oils, watercolors and acrylics, but am most comfortable now working in pastels.”

HOW I GOT STARTED

I have always loved art. When I was a child I began copying art from the commercial world, always faces. Then in junior high school, I began doing portraits of my classmates. We had a math teacher who had very pronounced features. He was bald with a very, very dark beard.

I was bored and began doing a portrait of him at my desk. He was walking around the class and caught me drawing. Without looking at it, he snatched the paper from my desk and walked to the front of the class where he looked at the paper — and his face turned beet red! As a student, I won a gold key in the Crowley’s Art Exhibit in the early ‘60s, as well as a blue ribbon, and I actually sold my first drawing from that show. As I remember, it was a landscapey thing. The person bought it for $10, I think. That was a lot of money to me!

THE STORY BEHIND MY ART, MY INSPIRATION

I traveled the world through the pages of National Geographic, as I’m sure so many have, and began using the beautiful photography as subjects to “paint.” Getting totally

sidetracked by life, I raised five children out in the country near Lake Huron on a mini farm. Because I was a city child, being born and raised in Detroit, I was so thankful to raise my children in the country. Throughout those years I did a portrait here and there, but very little.

WORK I’M MOST PROUD OF

In the middle ‘80s, I worked with a small crew cleaning up the town of Oscoda and painted murals on buildings, as well as signs for businesses. In those few summers, I painted on the sides of private and charter boats and lettered them. I also painted more business signs. More recently, I was chosen to illustrate a children’s book by a first-time author. It required 21 different paintings that took research and three months to finish. It was a very good learning experience.

One more thing I had the privilege to do was teach art to the first and second graders at Oscoda Elementary School on a voluntary basis. I absolutely loved it and the parents were so surprised to see what their children were capable of. It was amazing! I still have one of my student’s still life drawings in my box of keepsakes.

YOU WON’T BELIEVE

One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of was watercolor paintings that were affixed inside the top of boxes given as gifts to important people by the Military Affairs Office of Wurtsmith Air Force Base. The second one made was given to George Bush senior just before he became president. The picture was of the Lumberman’s Monument. Also, not sure about this one, but I have 15 grandchildren and could be a great grandmother any time, as my oldest grandkids are in their middle 20s.

MY FAVORITE ARTIST

I have so many favorites: John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt and so many of the earlier impressionists. Current artists who inspire me are Daniel Gerhartz, Daniel Greene, Marla Baggetta, Teresa Saia and many more.

ADVICE FOR ASPIRING YOUNG ARTISTS

To anyone I meet who is interested in becoming an artist, I always tell them, “Be yourself.” Don’t compare your work with someone else’s. Do what you like and use the medium you are most comfortable with. When you get bored, do something else! Art is relative and what inspires one person can leave another quite bored. And remember, your art is your interpretation of your surroundings, your take on the world, not someone else’s. I’m currently coaching a young boy to continue his interest in art, encouraging him to do at least one drawing each day. This was a very valuable piece of encouragement given to me by an artist many years ago.

MY WORK CAN BE SEEN/PURCHASED

I’m not in any galleries now, but I currently have a web site that my oldest daughter built for me at www.lcollinsfineart.com and a Facebook page, L.Collins Fine Art. Next spring, I’ll be doing a one-person show in Frankfort.

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