When I was young I designed paper doll clothes, made miniature gardens on serving plates, and wrote stories.  My mom was the “real” artist (oil and watercolor), so of course I didn’t think I could do that.

As an adult, I taught poetry writing (and did some myself), but confined my visual art to embroidering my sons’ art on patches on their jeans.  When I retired (from being a teacher, counselor, researcher, and school administrator) I discovered that I had nothing more to say, so I took an acrylic painting class and started painting close-ups of flowers.  Then I went on a sketchbook tour to Italy, which just knocked my creative socks off.  Education really is an ongoing series of events for me.  I’m continuing to take workshops and classes, now exploring mixed media and watercolor (but sketching is my passion).

Being creative is a way for me to pay attention and appreciate things - it has become a spiritual practice.  Annie Dillard, in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, says “...beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them.  The least we can do is try to be there.”  And that’s what I try to do when I sketch and paint:  be present, be mindful, let the awareness choose me, have an attitude of gratitude.