I started drawing and painting when I was 11 and never stopped. I always carried a sketch journal and pencils, took art classes in and out of school, made art gifts for friends, and visited museums, amazed at the art that surrounded and inspired me, always looking for ways to express the art that was inside me screaming to get out.
I've always relied on my art as a way to relax and "shift gears" especially after full days of teaching high school English and grading essays...I would grab what small chunks of time I could at temporary, nomadic make-shift easels on the dining room table, the patio, the home office. Early on in my teaching career I discovered that I could combine my love for literature, art and my students, to build connections with them during our work together. I always filled my classroom with student-created art that arose from the literature we studied. I often visited art classes on campus and spent time drawing and painting with students and the art teacher... I taught art vicariously...guest lecturing and doing demonstrations, sharing the knowledge and skills with students who taught me as much, or more, than I taught them. Sharing our ideas about art and its importance created art communities among us. All the arts - drawing, painting, sculpture, music, ceramics, metal work, fabric arts, crafts - and all the students I interacted with, proved to me daily how crucial the arts are in all our lives. Each of us carries an artist within.
Since retiring from education, my "day job," I have renewed my passion for my painting full time now and in the ideal studio I designed and had built for the next chapter of my life as a full time artist.
I invite you to view my work - I hope you enjoy it and find some inspiration from it...to discover and nurture your own "artist within."
They just don't make cameras like they used to!