Life is a Great Big Canvas

Today is the day that I graduate from college. It is a major milestone for me. It is one of those things that I never believed would happen, yet here I am. I married young, and we started our family soon after getting married. We both agreed that I would be a stay at home Mom, to personally raise our children. And I did. I put aside any possibility of working or going to college, and even put aside my paintbrush to focus on the kids. I had no regrets in staying home with them, and I believe my kids turned out great because I invested my life to make sure that I was always there for them. However, the desire to create art and become a better artist always gnawed away at me. I taught myself to do quite a bit, but I always felt my art was missing some quality to make it better. I had talent, but not professionalism, and definitely had no confidence in my art or ability. My sister, Cathy, decided to go to college in her late 30's, to become a pharmacist. She worked really hard, ...

Leather Elephant, oil, 2014 I have been excitedly preparing for February's First Friday festivities. I will have new art in at Short Term Gallery and Cabin Cowboy Designs, but I will also be one of two Featured Artists in the show "Visions and Visages", at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center. The show will be a mixture of portraits, figures, and still lifes paintings. This is my first time as featured artist outside of my own gallery, The Dancing Elephant. This painting, Leather Elephant, will be one of the paintings on display at Crossroads. I found this leather elephant, and its mate, at an antique shop in Sumpter, Oregon. They were so unique and interesting, I just couldn't pass them up. I am not an elephant collector, not really, but my sister Cathy was. Cathy was older than me by nine years, and she collected elephants from the time she was little. She passed away a few years ago from Ewing's Sarcoma, a very rare cancer with no hope at this point for fu...