About

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” ~ Maya Angelou

 

My life as a visual artist & designer has been and continues to be the most amazing and satisfying adventure one could have.This adventure has grown into discovering surface pattern design that I have joined together with my love of painting with watercolor. My process that has developed around my love of gardening and gardens is; taking photos of nature’s gifts when traveling far or near or in my own garden. By painting a chosen photo for the wall or to turn it into a surface pattern design or a paper product feeds my soul. I’m drawn in when looking closely or differently at a flower or plant to see its hidden colors and shapes that make it even more interesting. I love how the ideas are never ending and always close at hand.

Here’s how my creativity all started…

For as long as I can remember I’ve made things with my hands. I was raised on a remote farm of Northern California. It was a long way to the nearest neighbor except for my grandparents house that was a short walk away. Because of this isolation I learned to be happy by myself or spending time with my younger sister. This alone time was my dream time. One of my distinct memory’s is sitting next to a lone tall pine tree which stood on a hill in the middle of one of our pastures. That was where most of my dreaming and thinking would happen. I could see the western horizon with the layering of several mountain ranges wondering what was on the other side of them. There was no time or money for travel so the idea of travel was intriguing as much as it was a mystery.

 

Creating and designing from the beginning

Making things was a way of life and served two purposes; one it kept me busy and two it provided me and my family with things that we couldn’t buy. We grew and raised our own food. My Grandmother was instrumental in always having some kind of needle craft ready for me to do upon my visits. She taught me to embroider, knit, and crochet and sew. My mother started me using a sewing machine when I was five years old. To be able to make clothes for my Barbie doll was very satisfying and she soon had a wardrobe that anyone would envy.

I discovered drawing when my Grandfather gave me a ‘How to Draw Disney Characters’ book. It was amazing to me how with just a few shapes I could create these characters that I also watched on TV. It was magical but I didn’t really pursue that too far I think because it was looked upon as frivolous and not useful.

As I got older, I continued on this path of designing and sewing my own clothes, through 4-H, high school and community college, where I won several awards. Every season I waited with anticipation for the Sears catalog to come in the mail showing the new fashions and colors that inspired what I would sew for school that year.

As time went on, I focused on sewing clothing for myself and my family now married with two sons. Sewing was very easy for me and soon I was pushing the norm by creating ‘wearable art’ garments. Some of these garments traveled the world from gallery to fashion show, winning more awards and selling a few along the way and teaching others fabric manipulation to create their own.

 

Beyond Clothing Design

As life progressed, I felt the need to find a job with a regular paycheck. Since creativity had always been a way of life it was never very far away from me and I would create when time allowed. Craving that creative outlet and curiosity more and more I enrolled in the local community college exploring computer art classes and fell in love with the subject. I took all of the classes that they offered and a watercolor class too which I immediately fell in love with as well. My first college experience which had always been a dream of mine!

I then realized that I was going to take this new love further and applied to Chico State College to earn a bachelor’s degree in graphic design/visual communication design. My children were grown by this time and living their own lives which allowed me more time of my own.

At the age of 50 I was excepted to attend CSUS which was an hour and a half drive from my home. The Visual Communication Design program itself only takes 20 students each semester which is a juried by passing a rigorous portfolio entry of 6 pieces. Color theory, type, information design, drawing, photography, and a special 3D pieces that is different each semester.

It took me two tries to get through this very difficult process but with much determination I did it and graduated in 2009 at the age of 55 with a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication Design.

 

Why Visual Art & Pattern Design?

I enjoy designing, creating and making things.

It’s the satisfaction of being productive everyday.

It’s solving problems, exploring and pushing my skill level to the limits as well as creating things with my hands.

The bottom line; it’s who I am, I live to create, I thrive on it, it feeds my soul.

 

The love of travel satisfies my curiosity of the world, feeds my creative juices, and inspires new ideas. There is so much to see and learn about other cultures that I just can’t get enough. Click here to read my journal entry about traveling to Greece and painting the white rose.

“Distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything.” ~Jonah Lehrer