About the Artist

I grew up in a small town in central Pennsylvania.  Never living more than twenty miles from my home town until I moved to the South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park.  Which is located in Northern Arizona in the middle of nowhere.  In the summertime about three thousand employees live there.  Wintertime drops to half that number.  I found it to be the most beautiful, diverse place on earth.

As a small child I was always drawing and painting horses.  I still have the first paint by numbers that my parents gave me.  I have always enjoyed the creative process and was curious about the colors of things and why?  I took as many art related classes that I could while in school.  I have no formal art education.

After almost a year of studies in the late seventies with Patricia Cochran my view of art changed greatly.  Patricia taught the approach of the old masters and an exciting new world of light and color opened up to me.  It is still the foundation of what I pursue today.

In 1981 I gave up my life in the east of painting lush green meadows and Holstein cows for canyons, deserts, cowboys and cowponies.  And yes, those wonderful Grand Canyon mules! 

I moved to Grand Canyon to be a mule guide for six months.  Little did I know at that time my six month job would turn into twenty years of inspiration and life in Grand Canyon.  From sturdy mounts packing dudes down breath taking trails to running the mighty rapids on the Colorado River my life was never dull, in fact life has been on the grand scale ever since.  Although I found little time for painting my artist eye was with me every step of the way.  I was a guide for three years.  I then conducted my trained profession as owner/operator of Bright Angel Hair Design which was in the Bright Angel Lodge located on the rim of the canyon.  I ran my little business there for 17 years.  Though very busy I still had time to explore and observe the beauty of the canyon from river to rim.  I volunteered on the river for about 18 trips and there are still many more paintings from them waiting to be put on canvas.

Light, air and atmosphere always affect how we see things and this became much more vivid to me during my life experiences while living and working in Grand Canyon for two decades.  Completing a class taught by Tom Darro in 1997 at the Scottsdale Art School brought me back to painting with oils, my favorite medium.

After moving to the White Mountains near Show Low Arizona in 2000 I was very excited to start my new painting career in the west.  I took classes at the Sedona Art Center from Scott Jennings and other known instructors.  For ten years I painted and sold my art.  I explored the south west with brush and canvas in hand.  During that time many opportunities opened to me.  I was invited into the Sedona Art Center Gallery and am still a gallery artist there today.

In 2006 a Grand Canyon River trip for artists fulfilled a long time desire to paint everyday in the bottom of that wonderful place I had called home for twenty years.  I lived the artist dream for those ten years!

After moving to Sedona I went back to work as a cosmetologist again.  My art almost came to a standstill for 8 years.  When I finally retired again for the fourth time I gifted myself a week at PACE the plein air convention in Santa Fe.  It was there I realized how much I had missed the joys of my life as a painter.  After education there and a plein air workshop in Sedona taught by Kevin Macpherson I feel like I am finally returning to my life long love of painting and sharing this wonderful gift with others.  May the energy from my paintings make your heart joyful as you enjoy the beauty of life and nature together.

During my career I have been a member of different organizations:

Art Alliance of the White Mountains in 2019 I took first place in oil and Best of Show in their Semi Annual show

I belong to the Arizona Plein Air Painters

Guest Artist at the Thunderbird Foundation 2018

Juried member of Sedona Art Center Gallery

I'm a member of the art alliance of the White Mountains and show my paintings in their Art Alliance of the White Mountains Gallery in Show Low, Arizona.