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About MeWelcome to my site! I'm an artist, wife, mom, grammy a custom framer and retail sales associate! Think I keep busy? When do I find the time to paint? Well, lately it is no where near the amount of time that I would love to spend painting!
As a young girl, my parents had a dairy farm. I can remember going out with sketch pad in hand and sitting in the hayfields sketching pages and pages of thistles or stalks of timothy or just 'weeds' in general. Of course, God made even the 'weeds' beautiful in my eyes! I sure wish I had some of those original sketches now. I spent a lot of time in the art room at school which paid off in the numerous awards I won for my works while a student. I did all forms of art in school including sketching, charcoal, pen & ink and sculpture as well as loom work and rug making. My mom is an artist although she never claims that title. She was always working with color and fabric and made many beautiful quilts and braided wool rugs. She has just finished her 'last' quilting project, so she says. She is 85 now. We took an oil painting class together and she continued taking classes on her own. She is my mentor.
After my last son was born I started a salt dough ornament business. It was rapidly growing and I sold the ornaments in the north east United States. Soon I realized that I had not saved any time or energy for my o wn family for Christmas. Everyone wanted that 'last minute' ornament and I felt that I was leaving my family out which helped me realize it was time to leave that venture behind. When we moved to Virginia almost 13 years ago, I made an effort to pursue my artistic desires starting with classes at the local Michaels Craft store. Soon I was hooked and searching for more challenging instructors and joining art clubs and art organizations. I participated in art shows and have won numerous awards for my projects. I was president of the Seven Hills Art Club for 5 years. It was a terrific experience and I enjoyed networking with fellow artists in the club. I was also on the board of the Lynchburg Art Club for several years. In 2009 I decided to venture out on my own in the custom framing world after wroking for different frame shops for close to 4 years. When the opportunity arose for me to join Vera Swain at Beyond these Hills Gallery & Home Accents and it just seemed like the perfect fit; home accents, art and custom framing, they all go together. Please take some time to look at the other pages in this site as I try to update it often adding new works and events. I am excited to be adding lessons on here in the future so keep checking back! |
