Painting is my Passion...

I think I must have been born with a pencil in my hand.  I love to draw and when I was little I would draw on any kind of paper I could find.  My family couldn't afford art supplies, so I did a lot of drawing on three ring notebook paper (when I should have been doing homework, I'm sure) and sometimes I would salvage the white cardboard paper that came with my mom's nylon stockings. I remember drawing 2 pencil pictures of Audie Murphy out of a movie magazine, which I entered in a kid's art contest.  The drawings didn't win an award, but it was exciting just to be able to enter.

I never had any formal art training and just a few art classes in high school.  One of my art teachers asked all the students in the class what they wanted to do with their art when they grew up.  My dream was to illustrate for Walt Disney, and that is what I said.  Unfortunately the teacher informed me that Disney never hired women.  I was very discouraged when she said that, and I lost interest in art after that.  I've since learned that wasn't the truth.  It makes me sad to think that a teacher would have such a negative outlook and pass it on to her students.  I guess that is a lesson I have always remembered, to encourage young people in anything that they are interested in. 

Well life moved on and I was married and I had four great children, but the desire to create still lingered in my heart.  So when the youngest was grown, I bought some art supplies and enrolled in some classes with local artists where I learned techniques that helped me further my natural artistic inclinations. 

I have been fortunate to receive many awards for my work and my paintings are in private collections throughout the World, thanks in great part to my membership in Southwestern Artist's Association in Spanish Village.  My membership with the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild has given me confidence in my artwork, and I am very proud to say that my painting "Blue Heron" is the first painting sold on the Artist Guild's website.