About the Artist

My hometown is Dows, Iowa.  A tiny town without even one red light!    My bachelor’s degree in art education was earned from Dana College in Nebraska. Wanting to see the world, I worked in Germany for two summers and traveled to Japan, Azores, Spain, and Iceland.  I have taught Art in K-12 while working for the Department of Defense overseas.  Later after moving to the United States I taught Art K-12 for Riverside County School District,  was elected District Teacher of the Year in my tenure.

After I retired, I renewed my love for travel.  I have been to Australia, New Zealand, China, Eastern & Western Europe, cruised the Greek Islands, the Panama Canal and Glacier Bay, Alaska.  I've scuba dived in Australia, the islands in the Caribbean and Mexico. Many of my travels throughout the world has inspired my love of color.  The world is truly colorful and beautiful. I love to express this love through my landscape paintings.

I continued my love of learning by taking Art classes from Artists I admire.   My continuing education in classes has been a wonderful experience.  As I practiced, I gained more confidence and fell in love with pastels. Pastels give me freedom to make exciting marks - from sweeping bold strokes to small specks of pigment that kiss the paper.  The vibrant hues express my joy of color.  Mark making and overlapping of color, convey emotion through my paintings. This pastel medium creates exciting textures and dynamic colors.  I like to intensify and exaggerate the colors capturing everything from the beauty of nature’s grandeur to the simplicity of my everyday surroundings.

My favorite paintings are spontaneous and communicate the energy I see in my sources.  My favorite subjects are landscapes that I create from photographs taken during my travels.  I try to interpret emotions through my paintings, capturing the essence of the places I have visited.

My art has been shown and sold at the Desert Art Center in Palm Springs, and the Redlands Art Association.  I won a mini show award from the Redlands Art Association and have submitted my work to the International Association of Pastel Society.