About Me
You may have recognized my artwork but may not know my background.
I grew up living outside. My core memories as a young child were all from playing in our wooded backyard. And as any child would do, my imagination ran wild. I pretended there were fairies, dinosaurs, trolls, and much more living in our backyard.
Not only did I get to be outside all the time, I got to live with no more than 5 dogs, 2 cats, and a few birds at a time. I’m very much a dog person so naturally I bonded with our childhood black lab named Lily. She was the sweetest, most protective companion.
As I got older, my mom started a pet sitting and grooming business. As soon as I was old enough, I volunteered to help her pet sit and walk other peoples dogs. I learned a lot on being responsible for other people’s pets and enjoyed everyone’s company.
Going through grade school, I struggled to keep my grades up. I never had a favorite subject besides art. I always made sure to pick one class I knew I’d like each semester which turned into photography.
While in college, I chose majors that were not art related. I was told I’d never be able to make a comfortable living in art so I decided to go for a communications degree, then that changed to graphic design, then to engineering, and finally called it quits after geology. I had enough credit to graduate with an associate in science.
After school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do! I was lost and depressed.
That is when I took a leap of faith and quit my job and quit pursuing any more education to start my own business. Believe it or not, my first business was not what I’m doing now! I started a photography business back in 2018. I worked with a wedding venue to take advertising pictures. I soon learned that it was not for me, there was too much drama happening and not enough positive return.
I still wanted to have my own business but I wasn’t too focused on that as much as finding a creative outlet. I played with watercolor, gouache, and then discovered colored pencils. I had seen someone online draw beautiful realistic gemstones, bugs, and other animals all with colored pencil. That’s when I knew I had to try it out for myself! My first ever colored pencil drawing was of a blue and green beetle.
That’s when I knew I was doing something right! I then drew my sister’s husky german shepherd dog as a gift for her birthday. When I gave it to her, everyone that saw it wanted me to draw their dog. I began slowly drawing pet portraits for a cheap price. Over the years, I developed my own techniques and signature. On my free time, I began to draw wildlife animals which sparked an interest in making prints.
I didn’t know what I was doing the whole time, I just played with colors, techniques, and material to see what works and what doesn’t. Once I had enough of an inventory, I figured out a system to make digital copies to then turn into prints. I didn’t have a good printer at the time so I would order a small inventory from our local print shop. Once I had my own printer, finding the right paper was a challenge. I played around with so many different types of paper but finally ended with watercolor paper since it has a nice texture and makes the prints look like originals.
Once I had enough prints made, I started to do markets here an there. I was so nervous because I truly didn’t know what I was doing. Over time, I would study what my customers liked and adjusted accordingly. I then made it a weekly occurrence to attend the bigger city farmer’s market. It was chaos at first but then I was able to relax into a smooth routine. I found myself becoming obsessed with designing my booth displays.
During this whole time, I began recording every drawing. I was lucky enough to have the camera equipment to do so. I started to teach others how to draw online through these recordings and even in person at local art studios. My favorite part about teaching is getting to see how proud my students are of themselves.
I am now still teaching online, doing markets, and drawing pet portraits. I have learned to love every moment of learning and growing by business. My favorite part is getting to see my clients reactions to their pet portraits, my students reactions to their own progress, and my customers comments on their new art print.
