I was probably drawing before third grade because I got a butt whipping from Mrs. Bowers for drawing all the girls' mermaids and disrupting her 3rd-grade class. Well, that ended the mermaid thing. So, I started drawing trees, and trees are like people. For example, my grandmother Marie was like a Live Oak tree. She was strong, her branches ran all through the family, and she was cool like shade on a hot Florida day.
 

What is the intent of your art?

I like people, that is why I draw them. The intent is to keep their stories relevant. I grew up around fascinating people, like Cowboy, Gray-eyed Joe, Cousin Bubba, and Grandma Marie’s friend Mrs. Ethel. Watching them navigate the turbulent ‘60s and '70s was an experience. Everything was everything, like Aunt Helen’s Mustang, it was a hot car next to Aunt Margie’s Chevy II Nova. There were Civil rights protests, integration of schools, and Astronauts on the moon… the world was busy, we were busy. We all grew up together, the Davis', Graham's, and the Quinns’. We were family and those not family, felt like family. Now and then the fishmonger would bring a huge catfish for a big fish fry… that catfish was something to see. Lord, that was a big fish. They nailed it to the ‘pump house’ to clean it…country life.
 

What is the motivation behind your art?

People, they are the motivation! People have shaped my art in amazing ways. They go through storms, and they are still standing. Life is exciting, it is now and was then. Back then we were listening to Motown (I liked the Jackson 5 and Aretha singing “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Call Me”). We went to the beach, played all day, hunting trips and fishing. Now, only my brother Renny goes on hunting trips, and fishing trips 50 or 100 miles off the coast. My brother Thurman is always playing golf. As for me, I go to Lombardi’s Fishmongers off Fairbanks, I play golf for the cocktails at lunch, and right now I’m listening to YoYo Ma playing Ennio Morricone.

 

What does your art say about you as an artist?

It says I believe in people and the right people bring out our best. Like Mom, she was good but tough. She would let me hang out with Jan and her husband; they were missionaries sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ; I was nine years old. Today I still share Jesus Christ, he is the artist; we are the art. I think He is the foremost artist of all time. We draw people and paint their stories. We capture their experiences; whether good or bad, whether they are well-off or sleeping on the pavement, it's a story. I love how the characters of that story can be so resilient. They can be beaten and bent over to the breaking point from the storms of life, but after it passes, they stand right back up again like a Palm tree. That’s incredible!

 

What question are you most asked about your art?

The question I get all the time comes from my cousins …” Did you draw that, you did that?” Regina interrogates me, and Gloria adds with a smile, “Really Wonda?” (Now, they know the “family” calls me Penny). Deb is always supportive, she answers, “She did it, she can draw!” (Bless her heart as we say in the South). Then there is Val; (and I’m taking photos) she gives me that “You better not put me on Facebook” look (It’s the same look on her drawing; she looks like she could spit nails). Nevertheless, I think they like my art, it reminds them of the old days growing up in Oviedo Florida.