My Story

I was born on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada.  When I was two, we moved to the Yukon, where I grew up until we left when I was 16.  As a child, I was always drawing, always had a pencil in my hand.  My Mom will talk about how every week she would have to go to Woolworth's to buy another stack of paper and pencils. 

As I got older, I spent less and less time drawing.  By the time I graduated high school, I was rarely drawing anymore.  I am honestly not sure why that happened, other than as I grew up, my interests and attention wandered to different areas. 

During my adult years, while raising my daughter, I got caught up in numerous hobbies, always needing a creative outlet.  When I moved into the corporate world, my jobs still leaned towards the creative, doing web and software design.  But all during this time, I was unsatisfied, having only a "virtual" result for my efforts.  Still, I didn't return to the drawing board.  I would occasionally pull out a piece of paper and do a little sketch, but would be frustrated because my skills had dwindled due to lack of practice. 

A tribute to the art styles of the Pacific Northwest Coast Native Americans and Canada's First Nations ...

In 2013, I started drawing again, sporadically, but putting some effort into it.  I was definitely leaning towards a more tribal and abstract style, and also did my first Pacific Northwest Coast tribal art style painting, "Pacific Dream". Then in 2015 I was laid off from my job.  It was a blessing and a curse.  Over the next year, I went back to drawing with a vengeance.  I did a lot of the tribal type, and spent some time doing mandalas to teach myself structure, repetition and mostly, patience.   

The call of the this style of artwork drew me like a moth to a flame, as this is the style that I grew up with in the Yukon, the traditional Pacific Northwest Coastal style.  First my sister requested a wolf, and I completed "Arctic Night".  Then, it was a part of me, and that has been the style that I have concentrated on, and feel the most satisfaction from completing. Over time I have evolved my own style, of including specific shapes, symbols and other animals and people into my designs.

I continue to add to my coastal art collection, with ideas for many more!  I have also branched out into other styles, including some "stained glass" looking India ink paintings.  After much experimentation with different media, I now tend to stick to my favorites.  I use a smooth/hot press watercolor paper, and paint the design using Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Ink and archival liquid acrylic inks.