 Ruth Vines was born in 1970 in Würzburg, Germany. She grew up in the small village of Unterwittighausen about one hour from Frankfurt. In 1991 she moved to the States, where she settled in the Daytona Beach area on the east coast of Florida. Since then she has been employed as a graphic designer in various companies, and is also doing freelance design from home. Ruth has always been interested in drawing and painting. Throughout her teenage years she focused on pencil drawing, then moved to watercolors to settle on acrylics for quite some time. About 10 years ago she rediscovered her oils and has been painting in this versatile medium ever since.
Ruth is completely self-taught, reading books, looking at art wherever possible, and especially reading on the internet. Her favorite site and forum is www.wetcanvas.com, where she is an active member and which she credits for her steep learning curve in recent years. Ruth's parents exposed her to art and culture from an early age, taking vacations around Europe and visiting museums and historical sites in France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Romania, Turkey, Denmark and all over Germany.
She has tried every medium and every subject matter, until finally settling on landscape painting in oils about 6 years ago. In 2008 a plein air workshop directed her to painting on location, and the wonderful weather in Florida makes it possible for her to pursue this type of painting all year long.
Ruth lives in Port Orange near Daytona Beach with her two wonderful children and dog.
 I don’t have to travel very far, there is beauty around us, every step we take. The local marinas, old houses and the tropical scenery provide possible paintings every minute of the day, and I feel lucky to live here in Central Florida. It is great to hear visitors say that they recognize a locale, or that they have been there. If my painting gives them the incentive to reminisce about good times or a vacation they took in the area, I feel I accomplished something. I want my paintings to give a sensation of “being there”, or “wanting to be there”." |