Making of an Artist & the Creative Act

It’s understanding the subtle lift of your child’s brow. Recognizing a parent’s gait and unspoken emotion in a siblings tone. It’s knowing every curve of your lover’s face.

Beyond detached scientific study, painting needs emotional connection. Familiarity with the muse is built on observation one possess’s of a loved one.  Creating art is an intimate act. 

Exploration of subject requires eye, hand, & heart. To gain understanding, observation comes from a place of non -judgement forming an artist/ muse bond. 

My artistic journey was not born of ambition or love of drawing, but a love of horses.  I found them fascinating, the way many little girls do.

Horses lived in my beloved storybooks like ‘Black Beauty’ and on my cousins’ farms. Witnessing loving bonds between these magnificent creatures and people, I wanted a  part of that experience. Drawing was a way to do that.

Perhaps loneliness played a part in my creative beginning. 

Missing my older brother when he started school, I spent my days wandering the park woods where we lived. Naturally shy, drawn to quiet activities, visual stories came to life on paper with a child’s vibrant imagination.

A combination of personality, environment, comfortable being alone, work ethic, timing, and events spark creativity for many artists, as it did for me. 

The elements of an artistic life were in place by the time my artist babysitter came along. 

Thou drawing never came naturally to me, an ability to focus and relentlessness helped.

As my drawing confidence grew over the years, so did my subjects, expanding from animals, people, and nature. 

Growing up in wilderness, my connection to it is a loving familial bond formed in childhood.

Landscape art became my prime focus later in life when I discovered people of any age, culture, language, religion, or country find solace & connection to nature. Nature is a universal language. 

It’s said an artist’s spirit is imprinted within their work.  I believe there is an exchange, the muse spirit is imprinted within artist. ~’

Note: The best way to draw anything is eliminate mental identity labels of the subject. It takes practice to move past preconceived impressions and find the subject’s ‘essence’. Observe with eyes anew, curiosity and wonder. 

I believe it’s wonderful life approach, not just in art. 

~ “ I have worked with horses my whole life, and you know horses.” client at the Shurniak gallery, admiring ‘Bronco’.

New Work available:

“SKY over Lake” 3ft x `4ft oil ( two photos shown, in progress) $4,345.oo

“SKY” 4ft x 3ft oil $4,345.oo

~early drawings shown in three photos.~

“Kenosee”14×18 oil $910.oo

“Forest Nook” 14×18 oil $910.oo

“Bronco” charcoal & acrylic. SOLD