A Little Bit About Myself
As long as I can remember, I have loved to draw and paint. My dad is an artist and set designer who taught high school art. I got my first easel when I was two and I would paint with him. I studied Art at Eastern Michigan University and graduated with a Bachelors degree there. A couple of years after I graduated, my husband and I had our first of five children. With the goal of instilling a lifelong love of learning in our kids, we decided that home education was the best option for our family. I am happy to say that it worked, but for a lot of years it was difficult to find the time to draw or paint daily. I would have creative outbursts, but my art went on the back burner and I poured my creative energy into our children.
When the last of them entered public school (which they all did by high school), I was able to devote time again to my passion for art. I was a bit intimidated at the blank page, but through some workshops and perserverence I started drawing everyday again. That was about fifteen years ago now and I have since created a body of work as varied as my interests. I am moved by so many things in this life (e.g. nature, people, stories, fun, laughter, relationships), so my subject matter and choice of medium varies.
One of my pages is devoted to illustrations I have done for some yet to be published children's books. I have had, since I was little, a love of children's books and the art in them. When I was growing up near the Detroit area, I was fortunate to have parents that took me to the Detroit Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was greatly influenced by those many visits. I was as influenced by the many artists/illustrators from the books read to me many times. As a parent reading hundreds of children's books to my children, I always valued great illustrations and a variety of styles. It is the first art most children are introduced to, so I feel it is as important, for nurturing the love of art, as are the great painters in museums. It is art for some of the most open minded viewers and the most excited by what they see and experience. I believe that art for children should be mighty "fine art".
To sum up who I am as an artist, I am a person with many interests and many influences and a love of life itself and I try to express that on paper, with pencil, pen and ink, and paint, to move people to see and experience life through the visual arts.
When the last of them entered public school (which they all did by high school), I was able to devote time again to my passion for art. I was a bit intimidated at the blank page, but through some workshops and perserverence I started drawing everyday again. That was about fifteen years ago now and I have since created a body of work as varied as my interests. I am moved by so many things in this life (e.g. nature, people, stories, fun, laughter, relationships), so my subject matter and choice of medium varies.
One of my pages is devoted to illustrations I have done for some yet to be published children's books. I have had, since I was little, a love of children's books and the art in them. When I was growing up near the Detroit area, I was fortunate to have parents that took me to the Detroit Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was greatly influenced by those many visits. I was as influenced by the many artists/illustrators from the books read to me many times. As a parent reading hundreds of children's books to my children, I always valued great illustrations and a variety of styles. It is the first art most children are introduced to, so I feel it is as important, for nurturing the love of art, as are the great painters in museums. It is art for some of the most open minded viewers and the most excited by what they see and experience. I believe that art for children should be mighty "fine art".
To sum up who I am as an artist, I am a person with many interests and many influences and a love of life itself and I try to express that on paper, with pencil, pen and ink, and paint, to move people to see and experience life through the visual arts.