I am new to this art site and just finding my way around. My name is Sandi Vince, I am originally from Africa. I have returned to my artistic roots after many years of life and find peace in a harsh world in being creative. I would describe myself very much as a Vincent van Gogh in lifestyle, though I am not going cut off my ear and not mental. But I feel he was a man that didn't find it easy to be in the sunshine all the time, He was a very inward man, and that is how I see myself. I was always the girl that played by the rocks in the ponds in my own fantasy world amongst Kings and Queens, mermaids and ships yet never managing to find the jewels. I am still lost and still struggling to find that pot of gold but hopefully my art will get me there one day. Painting is poetry for me, an outlet to let the feelings and emotions run free without judgement. To stand in front of a painting and just loose yourself in the world of the artist, to build his story or your own around his or her work is like reading a novel of intrigue. In my younger life, I used to find poetry hard to understand and was not so drawn into it, but now I love poetry and seem to be able to connect to the words, when I paint or draw, this is the feeling I must have to the piece of work or to me it may all be a loss, which I would leave and perhaps take up again at another moment. It is like taking your inner self and placing it on paper for the whole world to see. Even if they do not understand. It is there, a release, a moment in the sunshine, Then last year, 2012, it was time for me to take up my brush, bring out the paint pots and pens and promise that my life would be a flood of sunshine and colour, poetry on paper and this is what I do now. Still have to learn much and know how to go about promoting myself as I am very much a hermit still. Find it hard to leave the house but when I am out, I enjoy the sunlight that dances on my shoulders as I walk and the squirrels darting up and down the trees. Yes, I am beginning to see what it is like to live, and to discover that even in the shadows there is always sunshine. I love watercolour, acrylics but at the moment I discovered that I enjoy using oil pastels and very much learning about the art of pastels, but not to say that I will not venture back to watercolour or acrylics. Right now, I am a student, self taught and learning wherever I can. I am hoping to write my own novels and books too and do my own illustrations. Just need guidance on how to go about this task.