I’ve been creative my entire life—drawing, painting, writing poetry (especially during the preteen and teen angst years)—but for 34 years I worked professionally as a high school science teacher. During Covid I decided to commit more seriously to painting. After lockdown ended, I was invited to a women’s retreat at Lynx Run Wilderness Retreat, where I met the owner Rob VanderZee, an artist who had run an art school in Alexandria, just outside Washington, D.C., for many years. I joined his classes and attended art retreats, discovering great joy in learning the skills, techniques, and nuances of oil painting.

In 2023 I was strongly encouraged by family members and Rob to participate in Grand Rapids Art Prize. I had the amazing privilege of displaying “An Iris Collection” at the Amway Grand. This was the first time that anyone other than close family and friends had seen my paintings and I ended up winning 3rd place for the popular vote. The awards ceremony was both surreal and amazing.

I feel very privileged now to be able to devote most of my time to painting. The structure and observation skills I developed as a science teacher inform my approach—careful study of light, form, and color—while my lifelong creative instincts guide the emotional and expressive aspects of my work. Oil painting has become both a new discipline and a freeing language for me: disciplined in technique, generous in possibility.

My recent work explores the interplay between observed reality and memory—macroscopic flowers, street scenes, and domestic scenes filtered through emotion, light, and seasonal change. I aim for paintings that invite quiet attention, reward close looking, and keep a sense of openness so viewers can bring their own associations. Learning with Rob and the Lynx Run community has been central to this growth: the mentorship, critique, and camaraderie sharpened my practice and gave me the confidence to take risks.

I continue to study, paint, and exhibit when opportunities arise, grateful for the time and space to develop this second act as an artist.