I did not want to be an artist to begin with, I wanted to be a writer. I have stories, like movies floating around in my head all the time. I began writing them down in elementary school. As far as drawing went, I always loved it, I always wanted to get better. In junior high I decided I could do both and I began drawing on demand for my classmates. I began to seriously study the human face in 8th grade on my own. There were no classes I could afford to take to improve so my father and I shared ‘how-to’ drawing books.

I have always had an amazing amount of support from my family. I have also been lucky to have had so many wonderful teachers in drama, ceramics, writing, and debate as well as art. There was a nasty mix up when I registered for High School and I was bumped out of the art class I wanted, my dad came in to see the art teacher with me so I could get permission to join. As it turned out she was out of school for the first 2 weeks because her husband had a heart attack, she saw my dad and recognized him as one of the EMT’s that helped her husband. I was in the class I wanted in a heartbeat. Mary Ann Judd Johnson is her name and she is still one of my most loved people. She encouraged me and helped me through more than just the aggravating process of learning this art thing. She helped me out with school and the absences I had because of the time I spent at home caring for my family while my mother had severe back problems and cancer. She even fought in public with a friend of hers to get me a half tuition scholarship for my first year at UVSC. She told her friend, Barbara Wardle of the Visual arts dept. at UVSC that I would be one of the best students she ever had. Three years later Barbara told her she was right. Still happily in shock about that one.

At UVSC I met and was taught by 3 wonderful artists, Barbara Wardle from whom I learned patience and color theory; Bob deWitt who taught my first figure drawing class as well as further instilling in me a fervent love of the art of the past, and Sue Parkinson a dear friend and the woman who taught me the most about technique and confidence. Sue was responsible for me transferring to BYU. She up and told me one day that it had been decided that I had learned all I could with them and that I should go somewhere I could learn more. She actually threatened to give me an f in the class I had from her if I did not apply. Well... At BYU one of the first teachers I met was Richard Hull, he went out of his way to get me into school. I met Ralph Barksdale on my first day of school at the Y. I was begging to get into his always packed class. For some reason he picked me out of the group and said "we must get you in this class" He didn’t know me at all but he felt so familiar. He became my mentor as he mentored several others, but our friendship was different. he was like a father and still calls me one of his daughters. I had a lot of difficult personal things to deal with at the time and he supported me through them. I spent hours in his office over the next 3 years. He often nagged me about drawing more. It was all due to him that I had to retake my portfolio review, he told me that I needed 3 more months of intense work. He was the guest speaker at our senior dinner and used me as an example of why he loved teaching, he made me cry in front of everyone. The other two teacher that were very influential to me at the Y are Bethanne Anderson and Bob Barrett, both great artists as well as great teachers.

As I have been working on my own, being out of school, I have found that there seem to be more demands on my time that take me from drawing and working on my art. Most relating to church callings and family needs. But as I spend the time to help others My skills grow without as much work. My best pictures begin in church when I am listening to the speakers.

I have had a lot of trouble selling my work due to the fact that it crosses genres and just doesn’t fit anywhere, except in my own head. The market for artists is one of the first things to shrink in an economic crunch, so jobs have been hard lately. I have met a lot of great people in my search though, and making contacts is very important. I have had a few conflicts with the ideas of the local community on the subject of nudity. Last year I had a painting of mine pulled from an art show I had organized because of the partial nudity in it. I could rant and rave but all I have to say is that the nude figure is timeless and transcends placement in earthly time periods. For many of my paintings this is exactly what I strive for, a feeling of universality. The harsh opinions of others can and do hurt, but I try to incorporate such experiences into my life In a positive way.