My personal journey with art began as a creative child in a small, rural area northeast of Cincinnati, Ohio.  I was fortunate to be surrounded by creative parents and grandparents who nurtured my interests and introduced me to a wide range of projects.             

 

As I matured, the need to raise a family and earn a living never displaced my creativity.  Instead, I used my talents in everyday life no matter what the task or job. In 1978, I moved my young family to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  During my nomadic years, several more moves took me to Olympia, Washington in 1990, Traverse City, Michigan area in 1993, Marquette, Michigan area in 2001, and finally we have hopefully settled for the long run in the Missoula, Montana area.

 

Having had several successful entrepreneurial endeavors under my belt, in 2007 I launched a new business called “The ART of Good Food”.  My art featured on the packaging of a dozen delicious, organic food products.  In 2011, with the sale of the business, I had finally come full circle back to art full time.

 

Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to train with some fabulous artists, and in turn, I have taught watercolor, pastel, oil and many creative classes to students eager to learn.  While living in the Marquette area I had the pleasure of teaching art to students through the Marquette Art Center and today you can catch classes offered through private lessons. 

 

My art has been juried into local and national shows and I’ve won a number of precious awards.  My work graces walls from New York to Washington, Canada to Australia, and lots of places in between.  On a rare occasion, I get the opportunity to visit one of my paintings in the home of a collector and it is always a thrill.

 

Today, living in the mountains above the Nine Mile Valley in western Montana, there is no end to inspiration.  Colorful sunrises, sunsets, wildlife, and wildflowers are all subjects of my recent paintings.  The painting I chose to feature on the home page is an example of finding nature’s beauty in unusual places.  This painting is of an area in Glacier National Park that had been burned over in a 2003 wildfire.  Several years later we walked through this area in awe of the burnt out trees and the vegetation growing beneath.  Nature is miraculous!