Page 14 - TheDecorativePainter_DP4_Winter_2018

tell your story
I AM “ME” BECAUSE OF SDP
by Bobbie Campbell CDA
Decorative Painting entered my life in 1974. A friend introduced me to “tole painting” as it was called back in the day and I signed up for classes the very next
day. My teacher belonged to the Society and asked all of her students to join as well. Jean Weber was a fabulous teacher who held nothing back in her teaching. When she would go somewhere to take a class, that new knowledge was brought back and shared with her classes. Jean had long struggled with cancer and attributed her calmness and serenity to decorative painting. Chapters were not really around then, or if they were, neither Jean or her students were aware of any. Jean pushed all of her students to “grow” in this art form - to always strive to do better on the next project than you had done on the last project. She stated many times that had she not found SDP, she would not have become the teacher that she was. When I joined SDP I realized through each class and each issue of the Decorative Painter that I received, I was growing too. With no art background at all, I learned terminology that I had never heard before. Shading, highlight, opaque, sheer, values and so on.
Jean prodded me into trying for my CDA. I felt that I was not good enough and was promptly told I would never know how
good I was if I didn’t try for certification. This is where you will truly grow, she said, and you’ll find out where your strong points and weak points are. I tried in 1988 and received a 70% on my certification board. I was disappointed; but, when my surface came back to me with judging comments, it only made me decide to try harder. I did find my strong and weak points, studied harder and passed in 1989. Jean’s cancer caught up with her and she passed away in January 1989, never knowing that I had earned my certification. I want to think that she would have been just as proud as I was.
Since 1974 and joining SDP, decorative painting has formed my life. SDP has been the defining force to shape who I am today. I don’t really know who or what I would be today without the Society. I have made so, so many friends, earned an income, traveled to so many places and countries, become outgoing (when I never was) and all of this has been due to SDP. The Society has shaped me into the person I am today.
I know that a lot of decorative painters are leaving Chapters and the Society. But, giving the credit that is due to the Society, NONE of us would be enjoying this art form today if this organization had never been started. I personally OWE the Society for everything that it has done for me. Sharing the friendship of Jean all those years ago and her insistence about joining the Society has given me more friendships and memories than I can possibly tell you or have ever imagined. We ALL really owe the Society, because if this organization had never been founded, we would never have enjoyed this art form or enjoyed all those fabulous friendships we have made. In a small way, SDP was my second mother, guiding me, teaching me and literally forming me into the person I am today.
I am only being true to my roots, for our roots are what keep us strong.
12 TheDecorativePainter • WINTER 2018