I grew up in rural Montana and moved to the Seattle area in 2002. Even with them being almost opposites, I feel that both have influenced my work. I'm mainly inspired by what is happening in my life and the world around me. Not just how things look but how they “feel” to me. Nature’s importance to me also comes out in my work. Or as one friend put it, "You really have a thing for trees, don't you?". Other things spark my creativity as well; music for one and usually what I’m reading at the time. If you look on the back of a lot of my canvases you will find lines from songs, poems or books.

I work mainly with cattle markers, oil pastels and whatever I can find to add texture to some of my abstract work (anything from flower petals to sand). Cattle markers are an oil-based stick which are literally used in Montana to write on cattle with. One of my professors at Montana State University introduced them to me in 1995 and I've been using them ever since. They are between oil pastels and paint in consistency but come in limited colors. The markers are too thick in original form to use brushes with, so I tend to use my fingers or a knife of some sort instead to apply it to the canvas which makes for some wonderful texture. I like to joke that no one could claim any of my art as theirs because of all my fingerprints within them.

I would also like to thank my Mom and my Gram (gone but not forgotten) for inspiring me, alway believing in me and just being there for me. I love you both every day. And also to Pete for his love and support.