I am a native Texan, born in Gatesville and have lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since 1969. I love the out-of-doors and have a deep appreciation for the beauty of nature and especially animals. I try to express that love through my art.                  

Art has always been a part of my life in one form or another. Drawing and painting through school and as a young adult. I didn’t paint again for almost thirty years. Photography filled my artistic challenges for those years. My love of nature has taken me on travels throughout the United States, London, and Tanzania & Kenya, Africa. After returning from a trip to Africa in 2000 I started painting again and haven’t stopped.  

        
I have been fortunate to have had many, many opportunities to not only photograph, but to interact with various exotic wildlife at several wildlife sanctuaries; such as bottle feeding tiger and lions cubs, playing with a young leopard and very young snow leopard cubs, letting a full-grown black bear kiss directly on the mouth; and bottle feeding black bear and grizzly bear cubs. In Kenya, Africa at sanctuaries I let a grown cheetah lick my hand, bottle fed four six-week old cheetah cubs, fed and petted the endangered Rothchild’s giraffes; and fed and hugged on a full-grown black rhino (the highlight of my trip).

A business in Austin, Texas displays one of my black leopard photographs on their promotional materials and a business in Gainesville, Florida features two of my photographs on their website, one of a black leopard and one of a lion painted on their denim jackets.

I make several donations of my art each year to various non-profit agencies, such as, Campfire Artists Christmas Auction, Artists Against Aids, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), the local Alzheimer’s Association, Smith History Center in Cleburne, Grand Prairie Arts Council in Grand Prairie and The Arts League (ArtsNet).

I belong to several local art associations and am on the Board of Directors of three of them. I am the President of the Mid Cities Fine Artists; President of the Creative Arts Club of Fort Worth and the Newsletter Editor for the Irving Art Association.

I have received numerous awards and have had my art accepted in many juried shows and exhibits. I’ve had two solo shows at the Layland Museum in Cleburne, and at Borders Book Store in Fort Worth, a solo show at the Jaycee Park Center for the Arts in Irving, and a four-woman show at the Ridglea Country Club.

My work has been shown at:

• Art on the Boulevard gallery on Camp Bowie Boulevard (Fort Worth, TX)
• Panther City Coffee Company (Fort Worth, TX)
• Burleson Public Library (Burleson, TX)
• Cleburne Public Library (Cleburne, TX)
• The Layland Museum, Cleburne, TX)
• Hurst Public Library (Hurst, TX)
• Fort Worth Community Arts Center (Fort Worth, TX)
• Art Centre of Plano (Plano, TX)
• Richardson Public Library (Richardson, TX)
• aloft of Las Colinas Hotel (Irving, TX)
• Breckenridge Fine Arts Center (Breckenridge, TX)
• Circle T Girl Scout Council (Fort Worth, TX)
• Ridglea Country Club (Fort Worth, TX)
• Marriott Las Colinas (Irving, TX)
• Renaissance Worthington Hotel (Fort Worth, TX)
• Colleyville Center (Colleyville, TX)
• DeSoto City Hall (DeSoto, TX)
• Jaycee Park for the Arts (Irving, TX)
• The Shanley House (Granbury, TX)
• University of North Texas Health & Science Center Atrium (Fort Worth, TX)
• Bob Duncan Center in Vandergriff Park (Arlington, TX)

Private collections:

• Fort Worth, Texas 
• Houston, Texas
• Richardson, Texas
• Dallas, Texas
• San Antonio, Texas
• Riverton, Utah
• American Fork, Utah
• Sacramento, California
• Bozeman, Montana
• Kalispell, Montana
• Apopka, Florida
• Altamonte Springs, Florida