Cindy Aslinger Tennessee

University of Tennessee of Chattanooga

My love of Art goes back to when I was a young girl. I have a natural talent that comes from my late Dad. I would watch him draw the cartoon Blondie. I decided to draw Binkie that was in the back of the magazines years ago.

I started taking art instruction as a teenager. My first instruction was in pastel, where I drew many dog and cat commissions. At 14 years of age, I took oil painting instruction from a local professional artist, Barbara Wright. There were several of us that painted in her downstairs studio. She introduced me to the Civic Arts League, and I participated in my first Art show at Eastgate Mall.

I continued painting throughout my teenage years. Upon high school graduation, I received the Art Award in my Senior Class. I went on to the University of Tennessee of Chattanooga and studied art there for my first 2 years. Due to some conflicts, I changed my major to Interior Design.

I married in 1983, and moved to Peachtree City, Georgia. I painted during that time frame. I had a family, and I took somewhat of a hiatus from painting when I was raising our two sons.

My husband took a job in Concord, Ohio, and we moved up there and lived for 3 years. I took watercolor instruction while living there. I did my first large watercolor painting while living in Ohio.

We moved back to Chattanooga in 1996. I focused primarily on watercolor painting from that time on. I love painting flowers, and scenes from Chattanooga. In 2005 I started going to the Chattanooga Market and sold paintings, prints, and got commissions during that time. We were all like one big family there and made many good friends.

I had some personal struggles for many years after that, but I have finally got back into my painting again. Even after all that, it means you can always go back to your first love, which for me, was painting.