Page 75 - JRT Magazine - 2023 Issue 2

Please tell us about yourself and your love of matter varied greatly with the demands of the
dogs. client. Now, I could focus on what interested
Once you have loved a dog, it is hard to imagine me. Most of my classmates in the atelier were
life without one. Each one shares a special part of landscape, floral or still life painters. Everything
your journey. Everyone knows that it would take “Dog “had become very popular, and as I admired
pages to describe the stories. In a few pertinent the classic animal art of the past, learning to
sentences, here goes. The best part of my life paint dogs seemed the natural conclusion. There
started at 36, when I married and had my two were national competitions specific to dog
amazing sons. Oh, the adventures…and there were painting, with opportunities for recognition and
the dogs. My husband and I attended an agility commissions. Now I could focus on technique.
meet in 1994 and fell in love with the Jack Russell
Terriers. We soon brought “Jack Tuff” home to my
little boys. Chapters were written, the boys grew
up and then were gone, and the empty nest let me
truly focus on learning the art of painting. Fate led
me to Dog Branch Farm (D.B.F.) and more Jacks,
and the paintings of dogs and Jacks fell right into
rhythm. Not done yet…

How did you first enter the Art World? Did you
have formal training? How long have you been a
professional Artist?
I cannot recall not having the inclination to draw,
‘to create’, since I was a child. Picasso said, “Every
child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist
once they’ve grown up.” My path to the easel had 2010 Morris & Essex Art Show Winner
some creative detours. With initial intentions of
teaching art, I attended the local college. My next
artistic training was as an apprentice to a graphic
designer/sign painter, and I continued studies at
night. Yes, the first “tweets” were actually hand-
painted billboards! Circumstances (one was my
future husband) led me to Dallas, Texas, painting
signs and murals for hotels and restaurants. Pre-
computer research for references meant many trips
to the library and learning from other skilled painters.
I did not realize until later how invaluable these
experiences were to my profession. Subsequent
moves to different states fostered my decorative
painting business until the economic climate
changed dramatically in 2008. The opportunity
and decision to become a studio painter arrived,
and I attended two ateliers teaching the hands- Early acrylic 2009: Bad Dog
on classic methods of oil painting. Though I was a
craftsman and painter for decades, I finally felt that
I was earning the title of “artist.” What is your favorite way of art-painting,
drawing, or sculpting?
What or who got you started drawing, painting I know drawing skills are paramount, but I enjoy
and/or sculpting animals? the painting process more, the mixing, the

As a muralist and decorative painter, my subject “magic” of how colors work in unison. Having

A Worldwide Magazine for the Jack Russell Terrier / Russell Terrier • Issue 2/2023 | 75