I come from a long line of creative women. My great grandmother made beautiful embroidered wall hangings, my dad’s mom made sweet Raggedy Ann dolls, my mom’s mom had a ceramic studio and taught herself how to watercolor. I remember watching my mom teach herself to paint in our kitchen, draw posters for my school and her family members’ musical bands. She made amazing portraits of our family out of pastels and she reminisced about sculpting clay in high school. Ultimately she used this creativity to invent the texture product that I use in my original paintings called Wood Icing.

In all of my life, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating. I went to Mizzou for a fine art degree and an art education degree. After college, I taught middle and high school students for six years. While having babies, I decided to start a mural business and then finally began creating abstract paintings to sell. I think I thought it was somehow cheating life if I loved something that much and could make money doing it. I showed my work in every coffee house, bar and group show I could find for those first few years. Over time, I participated in art fairs, ran an art gallery/studio with my mom, I exhibited my work in University Exhibits and now I have work hanging in more private and corporate collections than I can count.

It has become so clear to me, as I sent my oldest off to her first year in college and as my youngest drives herself to her own music lessons, that I can’t stop creating. I gave it some serious thought during some slow income times, but this is it for me. I need to do this for me and for the world. It is important. Now I know that while it is imperative that I make this creative life profitable, what is more important is that I need to share this joy. As a fairly shy person, this is how I connect with the world. I would love to think that my art connects people to each other with one common goal; TO SPREAD JOY.