The Full Story
About
I am both angler and visual artist. My paintings express my love and reverence of nature, water, and wildlife, most specifically, fish.
My Past...
When I look back, the subjects of my art have been a continuing thread of joy and inspiration throughout my life. I am fortunate to have been raised in a family that encouraged me from a young age to enjoy nature and art in a wide variety of ways. My maternal grandmother was an artist who loved to paint tropical flora. I remember her studio where I was free to use her art materials to draw and paint. My Dad loved the outdoors and fishing and was a Boy Scout district executive before working in the field of horticulture. My father’s love for plants and fish was certainly passed on to me! My adventurous mother, who always has a variety of artistic projects going on, loves nature photography and wasn’t afraid to bring us kids camping all on her own! My aunt was a nature photographer as well, with strong ties to the Audubon Society. All these people have influenced me in different ways and helped to create the values I live by today.
My Vision...
When I was in fourth grade, I thought that my career would be as an oceanologist. As I entered high school, I found that art was my calling and in the many years since, I have grown a successful freelance business, A Brush with Life, creating art for the public. I also found my passion for fishing. The art of fishing is awe inspiring to me and it has been important for me to look at it as not only a sport, but also as a close relationship with the earth. At times I even feel I may have mis-chosen my career because how I would love a job with the Fish and Game department! But I listen to my heart, and I know that I communicate best through art, and I feel I have things to share through it: things about my love of fish and water, of dragonflies, spiders, trees and plants, the importance of the bats darting overhead while I am floating home on the river at dusk. My love of pine needles warmed in the sun and of frozen lake ice crunching under foot are reminders to me that this earth is softly delicious and frighteningly hard all at once. It deserves our reverence, our gratitude, and respectful tending. I am drawn to express this through words, color, and shape.
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Combining my passion for fishing, earth stewardship, and artwork has been very inspiring to me! I feel honored when just a fraction of this passion, this love, and respect of the natural environment shines through and is seen, helping to create an awareness of the strong but fragile beauty of our gift-giving earth. It is from this place of deep-rooted beliefs and inspirations that I bring you these stories both in word and visual art.