EVERYBODY HAS A STORY
My original bio is below and ends with “I can’t wait to discover what the next chapter of my story holds.” Little did I know the heartbreak that chapter would bring.
In May 2021 I lost my husband Jim, the love of my life who I have loved since the 10th grade, to pancreatic cancer. His death devastated me. Grief wrecked me. I will miss him every moment of every day until I am reunited with him again in heaven.
But Jim wanted me to paint. He prayed that my art would take off. So after processing (and continuing to process) the grief brought on by his illness and death, I am back at it.
It will look different than before — because I look different than before. You can’t go through a fire without getting burned and scarred, but God is greater. He walked with me through it. He is here with me now and forever sustaining me.
Let’s see where His story for my life goes from here…
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As early as I can remember I have loved to draw, color, and paint.
As a child, my favorite subjects to draw were horses and I got a lot of my inspiration from C.W. Anderson and all his beautiful pencil drawings of Blaze and his many adventures.
In fifth grade my dad encouraged me to take oil painting classes through a community education class at the Rec in Sherwood, Arkansas. That was my introduction to the world of oil painting with all its beautiful colors, thick, creamy consistency and oily smells.
I continued to draw for fun and took art classes in high school where I learned to use various media, but never had the opportunity to pursue oil painting again until years later.
I attended college and thought about majoring in art but listened to many voices telling me art wasn’t a real degree and I couldn’t make enough money as an artist and art is just a hobby. So I pursued a different undergraduate course of study.
But sometime after that, God brought me back to art.
My family and I were living in a small town and I volunteered to paint an entire room floor-to-ceiling mural in a Sunday school class in the church we were serving. I painted in acrylics because of the sheer size of the room, and I created mountains, creeks, wilderness, forests, sheep and camels. It took countless hours and I loved every minute of it. And after I completed that project, I picked up the paintbrush again for myself and began painting.
But quickly I put the paintbrush down and thought I needed to contribute more to my family’s income, so I went to graduate school to become a physical therapist. This is a fine profession…but it is NOT the passion of my heart.
The passion of my heart is what God placed deep inside me that revealed itself back as far as I can remember…my art.
So on days off, I started painting more. I found an artist whose work I love - Laurie Justus Pace. My husband in a beautiful act of love contacted her and arranged for Laurie and me to paint together.
And that started my journey back to art.
That was in 2012. Since then, I have learned from her and other artists I admire like Anne Blair Brown, Clare Bowen, James Richards, Aimee Hoover and Haidee-Jo Summers, painted lots and lots, and learned as much as I can to figure out my personal style of painting and what I love to paint most. I love a painterly look that allows the viewer to enter into the painting and fill in the gaps. I love color. And I love capturing a particular moment in time and the detail about that moment and what it means to me. I also love painting about my faith in ways that I think reach people in all different stages in their walks with God.
I can’t wait to discover what the next chapter of my story holds.
Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”