Art has been a part of my life from childhood to the present day. In my pre-teen years, because I was always drawing, my parents provided me with my first oil painting kit. I naturally gravitated toward art classes in high school, the local art museum, and at Purdue University. But alas, painting had to be put on a back burner and became only an intermittent pleasure while raising a family.
In 1986 after my children were grown, I moved to a small town along the Columbia River in NW Oregon, and was given the opportunity to participate in many workshops taught by prominent artists in the Pacific Northwest, including the late landscape, seascape and wildlife artist, Dale Gherman, whom I greatly admired. Several years later, I was asked to teach classes for Portland Community College, Portland, OR, and held workshops in my small studio. During that period of time, I also participated in exhibits along the Oregon Coast.
The late nineties brought another move, this time to Phoenix, AZ. After a five-year hiatus, I moved further north to the mountains of central AZ, where I and seventeen other artists formed a premier fine art co-op gallery, where I had the opportunity to grow, show, and sell.
I have now come full circle. I returned to my Indiana roots in September of 2011, where I am redirecting my focus from seascapes and deserts to the pastoral countryside of my "new" home. I am now enjoying a new chapter in my life and my painting to explore and to grow into all God created me to be.