About Me

 

About me.

Hello, everyone!

I want to start by thanking you for your support with my creative journey.

I'd like to share a little bit about me and the story of my art career.

As a few of you may know, I started drawing and painting when I was a child. I'm very fortunate that my parents nurtured my inclination towards creating art, whether it be drawing, painting, sculpting, metalsmithing, or crocheting. I took all the art classes I could in school and began an art major at college, but never stuck it through.

I had friends and family through the years tell me I should share my work, but I kept pushing it off.

In July of 2023, my mother, Robin, passed away far too young from cancer. My mother's illness and death really shook me to my core, and made me think, "what am I doing?". I made the choice to stop putting off my dream of being a full-time artist, something my mother always told me I would be.

With the support of my family and friends, I began sharing my work online and showing paintings at art shows.

I grew up visiting the Mt. Gretna Outdoor Art show each year. It was something my parents attended annually before I was born. In 1988, my parents were preparing to go to the art show when my mother's water broke. They rushed off to the hospital and I was born Gretna Art Show weekend. This was the only art show they missed together.

Year after year, we would go to this art show. My mother would always say at least once over the weekend, "One day, you'll be here."

I've always considered myself a "serial dabbler". I was always playing around with many different forms of art. In 2020, I picked up watercolor for the first time in a long time. It was a medium that I had never really dove into. I felt well-versed in oil and acrylic painting, it was a refreshing change of pace. It really sparked my interest and challenged me, so I began practicing. I felt inspired, and painted the "Sea Queen" painting. It was the first painting I created that I felt I really WOW-ed myself. "Wow, that came from me?!"

Curious, I went online and started looking into what it would take to apply to the Mt. Gretna Art show. I knew they had a juried emerging artist program with 10 spots available to new artists. I learned they required 4 photos of your work to apply. At that point, I had seven completed paintings that I felt I could submit.

I told myself, if I were to be accepted into the show, I will paint every chance I could get to be able to fill a booth with my artwork. My submission was entered in the Spring of 2023. I nervously awaited and continued painting. After about a month, the results arrived. I had been accepted as an emerging artist the Mt. Gretna Art Show! I about fell over when I got that email!

At this point, my mother's health had really declined. I called my parents to tell them the good news. I'll never forget that moment.

I painted every chance I could get. My daughter was just coming up on being a year old. I painted during her naps and bedtimes.

About a month before the show, the spark in my mother could no longer hold out. She passed at home in the loving care of my father, extended family, friends, and the members of my parent's church were there for us throughout the whole process. I am so grateful for them all and all their love and support.

When my mother passed, I had just started a painting of a woman inspired by rebirth and new beginnings. I named this painting, "For Robin" in my mother's honor.

A month later, I set up my booth at Mt. Gretna for the first time, both for myself and for my mother. I had thirteen paintings and a couple of racks of prints. My work was well received and intrigued the curiosity of many. It was electrifying! Being able to talk and connect with new people around my imagination inspired paintings was good medicine for me and my soul.

Since starting out, I have been incrementally improving my booth setup, increasing the distance traveled to show my work, being accepted into higher and higher calibers of fine art show, and improving my skills as a watercolorist.

I must mention all of the wonderful people I have met along the way. I can't explain how grateful I am for you and your support. Seeing people light up when they see what comes from my imagination never loses it's excitement for me. It is my hope that my creations share fun, laughter, inspiration, love and joy to all of you and all who see them.

Thank YOU so very much!