My first explorations into the world of art were as a small child with a handful of crayons and a coloring book in the back of a Buick Roadmaster traveling with my parents to various army posts. I can still remember the excitment of a new box of crayons...all those colors!... and the smell of a new coloring book...heaven! As is the case with so many young girls, my first true passion was horses, and when I graduated from the coloring books it was horses i drew. And drew and drew. Across half of America we traveled, and I drew. But no painting...I moved from drawing horses to riding and training horses, and then to college and a degree in philosophy and a whole lot of bad decisions. Oops. It wasn't until my late twenties that i saw my first paints,acrylics, a gift from my brother. I don't know what made him think of it. I am still grateful. At first I copied the works of Audobahn, teaching myself the mechanics of the paints without having to be concerned with composition or color. My skills improved  and i started entering juried shows and was soon invited to participate in group exhibitions at local museums and galleries. Awards were won and i was on my way to becoming an artist, although i must say that while I was developing my technical skills  I had nothing to say yet. Ironically,after a staggering series of personal losses I finally know that I have found my voice and something to say. For the last four years I have painted nearly every day, on a mission to improve my skills enough to record the beauty of the mountains of West Virginia or the watery surrounds of my new home in Kilmarnock Virginia.... moments with my animals...all the things i see and feel and want to share. My hope is that when someone sees one of my paintings they will see a moment in a day, a glimpse of something special and fleeting, a color, a mood, a light. My goal is to record my days, with my art being a visual diary. And what i have to say is that this place, this earth, our lives, are surrounded by beauty and if one is looking, it can be seen no matter what else may be happening. I believe an excellent start has been made...all of my paintings are personal to me and most have a story to go with them.