97417220

I'd like to meet:

Anyone who finds and follows their passion in life!! or that likes my art lol. ;)

More about me:
I’m a true Washington native, born and raised in this beautiful state near the wonderful beaches of Lake Washington. My first sketches were of family members while on a family vacation at the ocean. It rained the whole weekend and there wasn’t a lot for a nine year old kid to do in a cabin with no television or gadgets to play with in 1979! That is where it began for me. From then on, anytime I needed something to do, my parents would say, “draw something!”
I was fortunate to have a great art teacher in High School to learn some shading basics and the importance of light and shadows. Dreaming of being an artist, I attempted to pursue it more in college, but was only able to get into one drawing class, which didn’t amount to more than sketching piles of junk. Life took its twists and turns and I ended up going to school to become a certified dental assistant. Years later I returned to the same college and taught in the dental programs I had studied in. Working with students and patients while getting to use my artistic skills was fantastic and I consider it an important part of my journey in becoming an artist. Much of dentistry is very artistic and crafty in nature, so this suited me quite well for many years.
Though I truly loved this career, I developed a medical condition which adversely affected my nerves. After struggling to find ways around it for over 5 years, at the recommendation of my doctors, I had to make the tough decision to retire- at the age of 30! Not long after that, I lost several beloved family members to terminal illnesses. I did learn an extremely valuable lesson from those hard years however: to truly appreciate the many small things and moments in life that we so often take for granted.
I did volunteer work for a while and went through training to be a peer counselor helping others cope with the difficult changes in their lives due to suffering similar nerve damage. It was a time of healing for me, though I couldn’t help feeling like something was still missing from my life.
One afternoon a friend was over and saw a few of the drawings I had done as a teenager hanging in my hallway. He insisted that I begin drawing again and commissioned me to do an original piece. It took me several days of staring at a large piece of paper on my coffee table and several attempts before I could finally touch the charcoal to the paper, but once I did, I began finding myself again. That was in December of 2005. I have been drawing and painting since! I considered taking classes, but somewhere along the way decided that for me, art is also my journey of self discovery. After working so many years in dentistry and college settings where there were rules and procedures for everything under the sun, it seemed to me that to take classes would be to learn how to do it someone elses way. I realized that I want my artwork to be a unique expression of my imagination and spirit. I wanted to develop a style that is all my own, so I purposefully chose to “keep my blinders on” so to speak until I felt confident that I wouldn’t copy or adopt anyone elses style of expression.
I was given the advice once to express my own life through my artwork. It wasn’t an easy concept for me at first, but I believe it was the key to unlocking my imagination and spirit. The goal I have for my artwork is to show the passion in my heart for life and all of its wonders and special moments, whether they are happy or sad, exposed or hidden, real or in our dreams. In doing so, my hope is that the viewer will feel and connect to their own emotions, memories, and dreams as well as remembering to see the beauty in all of life’s precious moments.
Where will my artistic journey take me? What new friends will I make along the way? The answers are waiting to be discovered! My favorite motto/quote is, “It’s the Journey, not the Destination!” I look forward to new opportunities to share my art with the world and make new friends along the way. Thank you for taking the time to learn a bit more about me. I hope you enjoy viewing my artwork as much as I enjoy creating it!