Please allow me to share a bit about myself with a short introduction below:

I have been painting for several years now. For me art is a calling, a passion and great desire to use whatever talent God has given me to try to make a difference in a lasting way. I grew up in a home where creativity was encouraged and celebrated. My brothers, sister and I often gathered to paint, play music together and entertain our mom and dad who would cheer us on as they worked on their projects too. It was magic there with my family who were my first teachers and band mates!

After high-school I considered attending art school, I also considered studying to be a nurse or a veterinarian, but I was terrible at science and math. I chose business as a career path and worked hard to become really good at that. I married my soul mate, my high-school sweetheart! Tim and I started our precious family and set out to find our fortunes, with our children, families and marriage our greatest treasures and focus. For many years I helped support our family as an Administrative Professional. 

My first job as a Clerk and my last job before my calling came, an Administrative Director.

My calling would come unexpectedly when the non-profit where I worked was threatened due to lack of funding and resources. I wanted to help but it would take a great deal of personal research and years of striving to fully understand the role of non-profits in our communities and to fully appreciate the role art can play within these communities. I had to find out how to be self-employed and how to make time to create, how to be a working artist. I'll admit, I had a lot to learn. But the first step for me was painting and creating. As I began on this new path I soon realized how hard it was to make a living as an artist, how hard it was to sell a painting that took countless hours to create and how many non-profits there are who have similar needs.

I found painting to be my way of reaching out to help. I opened myself up with new eyes to see the challenges and missions of various non-profits and one after another the causes would keep "drawing me in"! Every time that I thought about giving up and returning to an office job, another opportunity would come my way and hold me captive once again. I would sign-up over and over for the fundraisers that spoke to my heart. After each fundraiser I would find myself wishing I could do more to help. But I needed to be able to reach a larger audience.