I began my art 'interests' at the ripe age of 10.  That Christmas I received my very first set of oil paints as a gift and proceeded to paint a picture that my aunt still has hanging on her wall.  A country scene of woods and snow.  Very easy for a beginning artist.
I took art in high school as well as the pre-requisite courses to attend college, my dream of being a teacher quickly quashed in the over flux of teachers way back in those stone age days.  My major switched to History and Marketing Management (heh a lady did have to have something to fall back on) ... Continuing to paint, draw and use any and all mediums I could find, I found my favorite in oils and watercolors.  I'm mostly self taught, having had only two years of 'art' studies' so when you look there is something definitely missing, I see it, you may not which may be a good thing.
I married, moved to NY, divorced and raised two children on my own, beautiful, gifted and lovely ones too :) My son is going to be a teacher, daughter is in restaurant management.  I'm quite proud of both of them.
Back to my 'art'.  I took interest in terragen and love the capabilities it gave me in creating a landscape without the use of paints when I permanently injured my 'holding' arm.  I cannot paint for long periods of time using my left arm.  Limited but not defeated.  Taking up computer art satisfied my 'craving' to create landscapes, and the use of watercolor pencils and graphite satisfies my other creative endeavors.  Currently I am working on a series of surreal fae art, if such a thing exists besides in my imagination.  As well as some artwork in graphite attempting to work on life studies.  It's been an uphill climb and I find I'm more than satisfied most of the time.  "We're our own worse critics"... and so true. Much of what I do doesn't find it's way here, for I don't feel it should be shown. 
If you take a moment, and glance through my gallery, I hope you take away a wee bit of magic, a sense of delight and have enjoyed the visit...If you'd like to see some of my artworks that are no longer here, or that I've never put here, please feel free to visit my site:http://www.freewebs.com/ppeterse/index.htmVarious artworks from pencil to watercolors are there.