I’ve always been an artist. From my first set of Crayola crayons I was hooked. It didn’t hurt that my mom was artistic and had taken fashion design classes as a young adult. She showed my older sister and me drawing basics from a very early age (just to keep us out of her hair for awhile I suspect!). But painting has always been my first love and I discovered it around age 12 or so. Eagerly I took private lessons and spent summers taking classes at the local public high school to learn more about it. My college years were spent at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA where I earned my BFA. I have also taken portrait painting at Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore, MD. Over the years I painted all sorts of subject matter but portraits are my favorite. I love doing the eyes – it’s like looking into the soul and it is awesome!

A few years ago I decided I wanted a portrait of our dog Mojo. He’s a Australian Shepherd sweetheart with gorgeous blue eyes who I’m just crazy about. So I did one. I loved doing the painting and was very happy with the results. Then I figured that if I wanted a painting of my dog, other people would like portraits of their pets too. So began my adventure into pet portraits.

What a perfect job this is for me! I get to paint all day and my subject matter couldn’t be better. Pets are the universe’s answer to unconditional love. They bring joy to their humans in a relationship like none other. I’m convinced that most pets rescue us.