Bee on Lavender Painting

I’m drawn to the paint brush. For years my life revolved around my work and family, one day that all changed and now I paint. I started as a way to be calm and to find an escape from the memories of going to war. It was my way of getting out the rage and changing my vision from destructive to beautiful. I try to paint the images that capture me. It seems in their capture of me a way to express my feelings. Through time I am amazed at how my eye has changed, I see the light differently, I am drawn to color in a new way, and different scenes call to me. Painting has become my passion. If I don’t paint at least 4 hours a day, I feel at a loss. I can tell a story in paint, I can get lost in the brush strokes and it soothes my very soul. I have become a painter. Watercolors allow me to express reality in a soft way, and encaustic allows me to be free and just a little wild. It is by using both mediums and expressing myself in realism and in the abstract that I have become whole in my paint. I was born in Denver, Colorado. I have been blessed to live all over the world and explore all different types of cultures and settings. I have had an amazing life so far and can't wait to see what is next... Since starting to paint I have been awarded best in show 4 years running for the Far West Art League. I have won first place for watercolor for the Veteran's Puget Sound Health Care System Art Competition. In 2017 my work will be shown in the Seattle VA hospital. I now live outside Madrid, New Mexico. You can see my art in a local gallery in Madrid called Jezebel Gallery.