Artist Background

I grew up in Lafayette Indiana where my dad was an architect at Purdue University and my mother was an elementary school teacher. My family coming from a background of artists and musicians encouraged my art right from the beginning. By college I was steering toward a career in art education though commercial art, like my grandfather’s work, was my first choice. Years later when children came along before my teaching career did, I began expressing my creativity through writing children’s stories instead of art. It seemed to be a little more practical and a lot less messy especially with three small children. During those years I enjoyed using my imagination to write stories and even tried publishing my work. Then a tug at my heart to paint and draw came back to me. I began taking watercolor and colored pencil lessons in the evenings. My teachers soon became my friends and I began to learn about the world of professional, exhibiting artists. Instantly, I felt at home. I remember thinking though I never met my grandfather, Albert M. Wearstler, a professional watercolor painter from Ohio; I now understood how he must have felt back in the day. He, however, exhibited among a much larger, more prestige crowd which included Picasso, Andrew Wyeth, Clyde Singer, and Charles Burchfield to name a few. Today I am still an exhibiting artist along with my career as a professional art teacher. I still write stories as well. No, I have not yet become a published author but I persevere. That example I set for myself and for my own children. As far as my art, I presently work in my downtown studio and gallery exploring with pastels and acrylics. Art, for me, continues to be a spiritual journey. It is full of surprises. Most of all it’s an unpredictable, creative, exciting walk through life.

Artist Statement

In recent years the subject matter in my art is of little importance to me compared to the past. My artistic goal now is purely an emotional and spiritual one. It is manifested by allowing my experiences from the moment to breathe life onto the paper or canvas. It is more about the synchronicity of life and what role I choose to hold among the rest of the universe especially as an artist. Using the artistic talents I have gives me the chance to make those important choices about myself and about sharing those self- expressions with others.
In the book, Dancing the Dream, by Jamie Sams, the author talks about ‘remembering our oneness.’ In it he states,”We cannot remember why we are here, what we are to accomplish, what place we have in life, how we can contribute, or even how to find balance in our lives. The remembering occurs when we are willing to create a personal creed and live by it.”

Using this same theory in my own art, I have grown to trust and respect my intuitions and natural instincts. Remember, our soul already knows what it came here to do. If we listen to our intuitions, our inspiration will result in a deeper understanding from within. From that, the artist can allow the art to paint itself, so to speak. In my own art, allowing myself to paint and draw what my soul is experiencing at the moment, I not only am able to step out of the way and enjoy an uncharted direction of self -expression, but I am also able to release a healing energy. That energy eventually goes back into the oneness. The exciting surprise of each new creation manifested in this way is, for me, my soul’s reward.