I grew up in a small town in Texas, in a dome house, along with 3 siblings, cats, goats, chickens, prickly pear cactus and fire ants. Our parents encouraged us to do what we love. They said, “You may never be rich, but you’ll be happy.” My love was always art.
I attended the University of Texas in Austin. Unfortunately my art professors were so focused on the concept behind art that they never taught us anything useful, like how to draw/paint/you name it. Nevertheless, I graduated.
I met and married my husband (David) my last year of college (acquiring 2 step-daughters in the process, Sophie and Maddie). David kindly supported me and my art after graduation, and I spent about 5 years doing one giant bad painting after another (since one thing I did learn in college was you had to paint big), and being thoroughly depressed about it.
Apparently I learned a bit on my own through trial and error, because eventually I got into my favorite gallery in Austin, TX. Unfortunately I never earned what could be considered a living (even later, when I was in 7 galleries!). A couple of years later David and I adopted our son, Jacob (below, left, 5 days old). I didn’t paint much for a little while, until he was 1½ and a friend sent me an article about daily painting.
The idea was to do one small painting each day, post it on a blog, and sell it in auction. I started painting during Jacob’s naps, and quickly fell in love with the process! I slowly built up a following and started selling my daily paintings. I was finally making a living with my art! After about 6 months I got my first invitation to teach, then my second, and soon had sold-out workshops all over the US and Canada.
In 2006, my husband and I kicked off Daily Paintworks with a handful of daily painters, mostly friends of mine. It’s been amazing to watch it grow into the wonderful platform it is now, full of talented artists sharing and selling their art.
In 2011, a forest fire took our house — a tough chapter, but we were carried through it by the amazing support of friends, family, and strangers alike. We're deeply grateful. Now we're in Missoula, MT, embracing a whole new adventure.
In 2014 I wrote an instructional book called Daily Painting, available through Amazon. I teach workshops twice a year. I also have a collection of ArtBytes (online tutorials) for purchase (some are free - check them out). And here are some answers to frequently asked questions.
Sign up here if you would like to get an email each time I post new work. : )
