I grew up loving to read, write and create. I can remember sitting on my grandma’s couch for hours (before I started kindergarten), learning how to embroider the little violet embroidery kits that came in Grandma’s coffee tin. Around the same time, she also taught me how to crochet and I’d make lopsided potholders and crochet chains long enough to stretch all through the house.
I began selling some of my creations in local stores by the time I was 10–with the goal of buying a 10-speed bike with my earnings. My product line grew, as did my goals–financing the things deemed important to my childhood dreaming. Back then I’d sell pom pom animals for a dollar each (and most stores took 10% commission). Those little yarn animals took me about one hour to make. But I didn’t mind. They financed basketball camp as a junior higher and put gas in my car when I was in high school.
I never ventured into ‘fine art’ until I was in my early twenties. I’d always loved watercolor, but from a distance. It seemed too mysterious and hard to control. One day, though, I saw listing for a 6-week beginning watercolor class. I mustered my courage and signed up. I immediately fell in love. I pursued watercolor nearly exclusively for many years.
In time, I began to experiment with different mediums including acrylic, mixed media, linoleum block carving, batik, sculpture, and graphic design, among others. I also learned to knit as an adult and am even playing a tiny bit with quilting. You just never know where the creative bug will take you.
One of the things I love is illustrating for others (which I most often do in watercolor). It’s a huge challenge to take something a client sees in their head and try to make their vision come to life without me being able to see it too. I end up painting things for clients that I wouldn’t think of on my own, which constantly stretches me in new directions.
When I’m not creating in the studio, you can find me out with my chickens, working in the garden, cooking, learning new ways to use essential oils, or riding my bike. I also write and maintain several blogs and websites that have to do with my many interests. Being bored is never a part of my life.
