Late start doesn't keep Lakewood Ranch artist from success

As a kid, I would pull out those TV Guide ads, "Can you draw Tippy?"

Of course, Tippy the turtle, wasn't much more than a stick figure — think sticks with some curves.

It was produced by Art Instruction Schools, which hoped to recruit students by convincing them they had talent and then tempting them with discounted tuition. I drew Tippy, and later a Pirate, and then Tiny after that.

If you haven't lived a little, you probably never heard of Tippy, or TV Guide for that matter, at least the version of TV Guide that would tell you what time Star Trek aired, or Lawrence Welk. But most homes that had a TV had a TV Guide. And that Tippy ad.

I would give the drawings to my grandmother, who said she was going to mail them. If she did, then I was probably the only one to never hear back from Art Instruction Schools.

My common sense tells me that Grandma wanted to save me the pain and tossed the drawings in the fire barrel. I could have been the next Charles Schulz of "Peanuts" fame (Schulz did go to Art Instruction Schools).

But probably not.

Photo by Jay Heater

I would have liked to have been an artist, but I don't know if any instruction could have saved me. 

That had to be quite different for Country Club's Gail Cristello, who wasn't that interested in being an artist for the first 64 years of her life, at least not in the traditional sense. Cristello's mom, Margaret Feingold, was a talented artist and art teacher at Sarasota's Wilkinson Elementary for 27 years. She won the Florida Craftsman of the Year award for her work as a copper enamelist and was a familiar figure on Sarasota's arts scene.

Even so, Cristello never had the itch to be the next Georgia O'Keeffe, or even Margaret Feingold. Did she consider being a copper enamelist?

"Lord no," she said emphatically.

Now it wasn't that Crostello's mom didn't try to get her hooked on some kind of artistic endeavor. She sent her to Ringling Museum summer camps. It just didn't stick.

She certainly had talent, and that came out eventually when she bought the Decorating Den business in Ardmore, Oklahoma, in the 1980s. While she wasn't doing paintings or ceramics, she was using her drawing skills to show potential clients her design ideas.

Eventually, a divorce prompted Cristello to move back to Sarasota, where she met her current husband, builder and Realtor Jessie Cristello, and they have been married the last 33 years. Since 1986, Gail Cristello became one of the region's top Realtors, selling more than $250 million in real estate.

Life was good, but art wasn't part of it. That was until Margaret Feingold decided to try again.

"My mother said, 'Will you take a class with me?' She always believed in higher education, that you never stop learning. She also knew all the artists in Sarasota."

Cristello relented and started attending classes at the Venice Art Center.

"I just had a desire to see what I could do," she said.

Photo by Jay Heater

Her mentor at the Venice Art Center was acclaimed local artist Augusto Argandoña, and he inspired Cristello to get excited about painting.

"I learned about water colors, about composition," she said. "I learned about mixing colors and what colors turn to mud."

In her Country Club home, you can see a mixture of Cristello's art alongside that of her mother's, and other artists as well. Now 74, her best work might well be in front of her.

That wasn't the case at 64 when she decided to test her art skills.

"My first couple of pictures, I thought there was no hope. I tried to do a beach scene, but I was looking down the beach at an odd angle. I had no clue."

She still has the painting, which is dated 2016. But it is kept safely tucked away.

"You can't see it," she said with a laugh.

But she kept getting better as she took more classes at the Venice Art Center.

"I am better than ever at drawing skills," she said, noting that the sale of her paintings now pays for her hobby. "Absolutely, anyone can get better. It's all about continuing education."

Those who want to see how far she has come can go to the Creative Arts Association of Lakewood Ranch's Spring Art Show and Sale 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 14 at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall. Cristello, who said she mostly will bring watercolors, will be one of the featured artists.

Making money on her art never has been a main goal for Cristello. She said there are other benefits to painting.

"I guess I can just lose myself in painting," she said. "I can work for hours and hours."

She likes the experimental quality of art. She took a painting of an octopus off her wall.

"I do experiment," she said. "I painted the background of this, and then I punched a million holes (with a three-hole punch out of paper). She glued the paper on the painting to make the tentacles.

"I like composition that moves, colors that move around the page. When you tear paper, it gives you interesting edges. It's all about texture."

People walk past when she shows her work and they say how beautiful it is.

"'Are you talking to me?' I say.

"I am highly critical of myself. I would like to loosen up."

It only took 64 years for her to get started.

So what would she say to people in Lakewood Ranch reading this story, whether they could begin an art career at 60, or 70, or 80?

"Yes, you can," she said.

OK, Tippy, here I come.