I am a multi-media visual artist currently working on repurposed wood from my basement renovation; capturing the birds that I have encountered in the wild, as seen with my naked eye, sometimes with the help of the Merlin bird app bird sound identification feature. Birds have always been my friends since I was a young child wandering around the Northeast Iowa generational family farm that I grew up on. Being out in nature is my “happy place” and seeing the wildlife that we share this planet with is always awe-inspiring to me.

This is why my bird portraits feature touches of gold leaf or silver leaf. It is my desire to record the species that I see around my home or in my travels and elevate them to “icon” status, similar to the East European or Russian Icon paintings, which are also often painted on wood blocks or slabs.

My in-home art studio is filled with many media and tools which is why I can’t help but jump over to watercolor, pastel or other drawing media. I spent many years as a K-12 Visual Art Educator so I am well-versed in working in all media because I needed to be able to teach those mediums and how to use the tools and techniques that come with each one.

My path to now, a full time studio artist started at a young age. As a child, I obsessively drew horses, birds and all animals while observing images in the family Encyclopedia Britannica volumes. In high school and through 4-H, I won show awards and even had a pencil still life drawing advance to the Iowa State Fair where it received a blue ribbon. 

I received a full scholarship to Upper Iowa University, Fayette, where I began a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to support myself as a fine artist, so UIU worked with me on a transfer to Chicago, Illinois’ now-defunct commercial art and advertising two year school, The American Academy of Art, with my credits going toward my UIU BFA degree.

From Chicago I went to Indianapolis, Indiana where I worked for many years based an advertising artist with both Indy’s Child and the Indianapolis Business Journal. Then a desire for a change in geographical location took me to Phoenix, Arizona and Tucson, Arizona where I worked as a production artist creating the types of works that you see hanging in hotel rooms or in the hallways of corporate office. A return to the Midwest led me to University of Kansas, Lawrence, where I received my K-12 Visual Art Educator degree. I taught all grade levels in both Massachusetts and Minnesota, all while also painting and showing my mostly Midwest rural landscapes in oil on canvas. Now, I am retired from teaching and focused solely on producing new artworks.