7″x5″ pastel on sanded paper

I paddled the Illinois River with my kids this weekend. This was a beautiful high meadow we drove through.

Please enjoy a celebration of pink paintings this month, in honor of breast cancer awareness. I paint for my friends and family who have fought the good fight against cancer, for their families, and for all caregivers who help along with the journey toward a healthy self (body, soul, and spirit). In my strokes of pink, are prayers of strength and healing.

7″x5″ pastel on sanded paper

This is a study for a larger painting. I think the pink makes a nice background. I am painting from a photo, and the photo has a beautiful lake behind the cactus. Although it is “real” it looks so strange. I recently have enjoyed changing sky and background colors from reality to a “better palette”.

Please enjoy a celebration of pink paintings this month, in honor of breast cancer awareness. I paint for my friends and family who have fought the good fight against cancer, for their families, and for all caregivers who help along with the journey toward a healthy self (body, soul, and spirit). In my strokes of pink, are prayers of strength and healing.

9″ square mixed media

“The joy was in the act of running and in the journey, not in the destination.” – John Bingham

This is another color study for an upcoming commission. The interaction between this family is fun to capture.

I love playing in mixed media. If you love this style of art, consider taking my Mixed Media Abstracted Figure Workshop. November 14th and 15th, Sunnyvale, TX. I promise you don’t have to be able to draw, come and play, learn something new, and leave with two finished 16″x20″ gallery wrapped canvases.

Please enjoy a celebration of pink paintings this month, in honor of breast cancer awareness. I paint for my friends and family who have fought the good fight against cancer, for their families, and for all caregivers who help along with the journey toward a healthy self (body, soul, and spirit). In my strokes of pink, are prayers of strength and healing.

9″ square mixed media

“Nothing in this world compares to the comfort and security of having someone just hold your hand.” -Richelle E. Goodrich

This is a color study for a large commission. I love playing in mixed media. If you love this style of art, consider taking my Mixed Media Abstracted Figure Workshop. November 14th and 15th, Sunnyvale, TX. I promise you don’t have to be able to draw, come and play, learn something new, and leave with two finished 16″x20″ gallery wrapped canvases.

Please enjoy a celebration of pink paintings this month, in honor of breast cancer awareness. I paint for my friends and family who have fought the good fight against cancer, for their families, and for all caregivers who help along with the journey toward a healthy self (body, soul, and spirit). In my strokes of pink, are prayers of strength and healing.

If I had a nickel for every time someone told me “I can’t draw” or “I’m not an artist” or “I wish I could learn to draw” or “I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler”…then I wouldn’t worry about the state of my 4 kids college funds.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” -Pablo Piccaso

You can learn to draw and paint quite easily with practice and instruction (way easier than playing the violin). For some reason people close the door on the possibility of making art quite young. I meet people every year that say something like “my second grade teacher told me I would never be an artist” sometimes, through tears, they admit that for 60 years they wished they could make art. I have a small mission in life just to crack open those doors closed so many years before. Sometimes I think the fact that art leaves a paper trail is part of the problem. No one can “see” a record of your child’s first violin lesson, they look at the result of a year of practice and lessons at the recital. We judge ourselves too harshly too early, and we close doors on our possibility.

I have theory, as to why so many of us long to create, but stop ourselves. I think we expect that since we have gained mastery of writing letters and numbers we have gained mastery of a pencil, and since we cannot use it to make art, we are not artists. (Somehow we forget about the preschool and early elementary years practicing forming those 9 numbers and 26 letters. We think, since we have mastered those 35, we should be able to draw a human face). I also think as grade schoolers, we rank ourselves among our peers and make decisions that effect the rest of our lives. Take for example a child that spends ages 0-9 riding bikes, and fishing, and mastering every kind of ball. One day they show up in a classroom with another third grader. They both are given an assignment to write a short story about their holiday and draw a picture to go with it. The kid sitting next to the athletic-outside play kid might have spent her childhood drawing pictures and painting. Perhaps she has a mom like me, when they ask “how can I make this look more real?” They get really good instruction. Then the first third grader, with words never exchanged, looks at the illustration of the kid next to them who created ART with 24 crayons, decide for them self they lack an artist ability to work crayons and therefore are “not artistic.”

“Every artist was first an amateur” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If your door closed a long time ago, and you wish you were one of those “artistic types”, let me give you some hope. With a little instruction, and practice, I promise you will become an artist. Those artistic kids practiced for hours and showed up in your third grade classroom, and maybe you decided you had inferior talent. What you had was inferior instruction and practice. Give yourself a chance.

“Creativity takes courage” -Henri Mattise

putting in effort over time adds up to huge effects. If you don’t believe me or get discouraged, read or listen to the book “The Compound Effect.” Sign up for a class, and start making art. What if you told yourself you can keep the 100th painting, but the first 99 are just practice. When you go to your first art class, remember, no one signs up for a recital they day they start violin lessons.

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” -Thomas Merton

Teaching is my favorite part of art. I would love to help you crack open your door! I also would be delighted to hear about the classes you found in your town, and what your journey is like to learning to make art!

Learn more about my classes

Do you have an itch to try making some art, but feel intimidated by signing up for an entire workshop? Cork and Canvas is a perfect chance to make an original piece of art in a fun, relaxed setting, with plenty of direction to ensure success. I provide all the materials. You simply bring something to sip, and an apron. You can even work from your own photo if you want. It is a perfect way to capture a special memory, and finished paintings make great gifts!

Use coupon code: CC25OFFOCT2018 for 25% off (expires Friday, September 28th)

Sign up for Oct 27 Cork and Canvas (6:30-9pm) or

Schedule a private painting party

7″x5″ pastel on sanded paper

5×5 pastel on sanded paper

7×5 pastel on sanded paper

Here are some demos from my workshop today. These were an example of the power of working in a series, and working fast.

I love to paint, but I think I love teaching students, to love to paint, even better. It has been an amazing class, and I am so proud of my students. I pushed them, they did the work, and man, did they get the results!

If you are interested in taking a class, I have a cork and canvas October 27th, a mixed media workshop Nov. 14th and 15th and several oil painting and pastel workshops in 2019.

Learn more about my classes

And since most of you didn’t get to spend the weekend at Mo Ranch with me, enjoy a small visual tour, it is a treasure in the Texas Hill Country. Besides the amazing scenery, and live oak trees, the architecture is fabulous!