about carol may

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

My goal as an artist is to share the beauty and wonder of God's beautiful creations.

I have always had a love for nature. My first artwork was landscape paintings.

Then some of my favorite subjects were birds, butterflies, hummingbirds and other critters like giraffes and dolphins.

The flower paintings will often include a butterfly or a hummingbird.

Gardening is another one of my passions. The flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds that make wonderful subjects for a painting.

You may want to include different types of butterflies or hummingbirds in your paintings.

The joy of learning to paint.

My art journey started in Junior High. Later I minored in art with a major in horticulture at the University of California. 

After college my art was set aside until my mother retired and took up painting.

She became one of Bill Alexander's certified teachers and she gave me lessons, too.

My first paintings were mountains and landscapes.

The more we paint, the more we learn and grow our painting skills, so I kept practicing.

You can paint the step-by-step tutorials and increase your painting skills at the same time.

"Country Barns"

Since my mom and I now lived in different states, I rarely got to paint with her any more.

But one time she flew to Florida and we drove up to New England and painted on location for two weeks.

It was the first time I had ever seen the beautiful fall colors of New England.

That was awesome! We didn't see many fall colors in Florida.

After I got home, "Country Barns" was completed and it was privileged to win a best of show award.

My favorite Florida painting

When the paintings started running out of the spare bedroom, Art by Carol May was born.

In the beginning I put my paintings in galleries.

Then I joined a wonderful art co-op, Island Arts in Cedar Key, Florida. It was fun working with the other artists.

My husband suggested we do some of the street festivals.  We did that for a few years in Florida.

It's such a joy meeting people and sharing art with them.

"Born Free" Dolphins

I taught oil painting to students in Florida.

About the turn of the century, I started painting with watercolor. I taught myself to paint watercolor using the basic principles of art.

These principles of art apply to all types of paintings, no matter what medium we use.

People started asking me to teach my watercolor methods, so I taught some watercolor classes to aspiring artists.

We painted things like sea turtles and the Florida dolphins.

My desire is to share my years of experience with budding artists to advance your artistic journey.

Now after retirement, my home is a small town in horse and cattle country in the Midwest.

When I moved here, I had the aspirations of giving painting lessons and selling paintings like in Florida.

But the painting market here is not as lively. And my art studio doesn't have enough space for students.

So, I needed to change horses in the middle of the stream.

Art by Carol May needed to expand.