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These were my dad's horses, Maxine and Playgirl. |
My first art studio was the crawl space under our house in Durango, Colorado. I shared it with the mice and spiders, but I didn't care -- it was my space! I dabbled in any craft that took my fancy at the moment: painting, sculpture. I used any material I could find -- popcicle sticks, beads, glue. One "treasure" I still have is a little skunk I made out of seashells.
Somewhere around 1995 I was browsing through a bookstore and came upon a book by Claudia Nice on drawing with pen and ink. I loved the drawings in her book and knew I wanted to learn to do that. Next thing I knew, I had a set of pens and a pad of paper. I bought every book as Claudia published new ones, and eventually took a private workshop with her, staying in her home/studio in Oregon. I work mostly from the thousands of photos I have taken. I love the outdoors and animals, as is evidenced by the categories of note cards on this web site.
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| In the '70s I bought my first 35 mm camera, a manual Minolta and used it for about 35 years, until it could not longer be repaired. I have taken over a thousand rolls of film.
I have since gone digital, reluctantly at first, but now enthusiastically. I quickly became used to seeing the photo immediately and being able to share photos quickly. I also like taking lots of pictures and I don't feel as bad doing that with megapixels as opposed to film! I have been a freelance photographer for The Chaffee County Times since 2000. I photograph a potpourri of subjects: sports, local events, wildlife, scenery. I love the variety and challenge. It was necessary to go digital in order to keep up with the need for instant transfer of information in the newspaper business.
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I have gotten free hot air balloon rides as the "event photographer!" |
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During my freshman year at Ft. Lewis College in Durango, Colorado (in 1970), one teacher told our class to keep a journal for nine days. We could write about anything we wanted, but we had to keep it up for nine days. I haven't quit writing since. By the year 2000, I had written about 40 personal journals, had over 100 articles published in more than 40 magazines and newspapers and two books, Through Mary's Eyes and Antipodean, The Secret of Mirror Lake.In 2000, I became a regular columnist and photographer for The Chaffee County Times, our small local weekly newspaper in Buena Vista, Colorado. Writing has been a tool of growth -- personal and spiritual -- for me. It was an unexpected gift which has blessed my life in ways that cannot be measured. |
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I loved helping my dad with projects. A table saw was his only stationary machine and I remember volunteering to clean it. I would crawl under it with a toothbrush and clean out all the sawdust. It seems he was always building something: a rabbit cage, a porch. He built his workbench, which I inherited. Perhaps I also inherited his fascination with wood. In 2003 I bought my first wood lathe. My "shop" is a 10' x 10' metal shed from which I evicted garden tools and bikes. The space holds my table saw, band saw and a belt sander, along with scraps of wood I have scrounged. And, oh yes, my lathe. After getting over my initial fear of the lathe and gaining more skill and confidence, I found I loved turning. The wood I use for turning, for the most part, is wood that was headed for somebody's firewood pile. For example, the cedar has come from my cousin and my sister, both in Colorado. The oak is from my brother-in-law's tree in Illinois. The apple and maple have come from my brother's yard in Denver.Some of the aspen is from trees in my yard that died. That makes it even more fun for me, to have my relatives involved, and to be able to make something beautiful and useful from a piece of scrap. By 2007, I had outgrown my original lathe (I broke it twice, trying to turn larger pieces) and bought a heavy duty one, to turn bigger and heavier pieces. |
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