Returning to Art

Artistic talents run wild in my family.. painters and creators on both my mom and dad's side of the family.  Growing up, my mother did creative projects, painting and drawing with my sister and I all the time.

Throughout school and into college, i had a natural talent and aptitude for art and when it came time to go to college, I went for art because I enjoyed it and frankly did not know what else I wanted to do.

Art school ended up being the best decision. Throughout the BFA program, I was able to take a variety of classes, working with many mediums and be taught by some amazing artists. A core memory and one of my favorite teachers was a painter (I wish I could remember his name). We were talking about a painting that someone wanted to buy and I remember him saying ‘hell if your going to sell that for $25 dollars I’ll buy it! Don’t undervalue yourself like that.’ Being around artists all the time was motivating and inspirational. My favorite classes were figure drawing (yes, nudes) and pottery. (If I ever have the space, I will get a pottery wheel and kiln.)

After school, I went into graphic design.  I didn't want to teach art and didn't really know what else to do with an art degree... graphic design seemed to make the most sense.

Being out of college, away from other artists and just being an active 20-something meant I didn’t have much time to create art.  So, life moved on and my creative inclination spilled into work and problem solving, rather than painting or drawing.

In my 30's, my significant other, Sam, and I got pregnant with our son.  Just before he was born, we were gifted a Nikon D90 camera to take pictures of the new baby.  I had never used anything other than a point and shoot camera and spent the month before my son was born learning the camera and taking hundreds of pictures. Once Jacob was born, I fell hard into photography. It started with him as my muse, but spilled out into nature photography and macro.

That period reignited my creative fire; and hasn't let up since.  The last 15 years have seen a transition from photography to acrylics to cyanotype and watercolor.  While the mediums have changed, I have always been drawn toward and inspired by nature. I also tend to love mediums that have a process to be learned and mastered... it started with photography and learning the camera, and continues today with cyanotype and watercolor.

The new print collection I am working on is exciting because it enables me to go back to my old work, revisit it and digitize it.

The first release will include some reproductions, but will also include work that I am modifying digitally, so I can create something new.

I can’t wait to share more as I prep for the launch in March.

Here are some videos of my earlier work.