Artist's Statement
My works of art - living waterworks I call them - are the visual poetry of gratitude I express for the fascinatingly beautiful world I see. It is my response to the Creation, and the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. The work of His hands is the inspiration for all that I do. Although the process includes a giving on my part, there is a receiving as well, for when I observe something closely enough to draw or paint it, or write about it, I know that it will get into my heart and mind, remaining there in a special relationship ever after. What a joy, to be looking for beauty at every turn of the road. It has makes my life incredibly rich.
Artist's Bio
I grew up in the Midwest in a modest little home where we were encouraged to enjoy the little beauties around us and to explore our own creativity. The memoir I wrote with my sisters, Becoming Hulda's Girls, tells, in much detail, about that phase of my life. I became a nurse, a wife, a mother, and enjoyed these occupations tremendously. Never had a thought, not a serious thought, about being an artist or a writer, and certainly not a publisher. The tidy life I had planned was interrupted by a long battle with what turned out to be Aplastic Anemia. Being chronically ill has a way of changing the way you do life, especially if there is a life-threatening nature to it. I see now that it was all God's way of changing my path. As I grew sicker and sicker, and my energy level waned, I had to find something to do to take my mind off of the idea that I was going to die any day.
And if it were my last year on this earth, what would I want to do that I had not yet accomplished? I began to pursue art with the ultimate goal to write and illustrate my own children's books, certainly an illusive goal, as I am not there yet after thirty years, but then I have not died yet either. What a pleasant surprise, eh? I may get there yet. After studying high school art as a volunteer at Aspen High School for three and a half years with Barbara Smith, who was an incredibly fantastic teacher, I attended Peninsula Art School for a summer in Fish Creek WI, and have taken numerous workshops and classes at Coupeville Arts Center in Coupeville WA and Colorado Mountain College. Beyond that, I have been largely self-taught. Practice, practice, practice. My greatest inspiration and encouragement has come from reading about the works of Robert Wade, a very dear watercolorist who lives in Australia. After a couple of treatments at the City of Hope in Duarte CA and a daily intake of the Mannatech supplements and glyconutrients (Ambrotose) for a number of years, I am delighted to say that I am in excellent health, and am enjoying life as never before. God has been good to me.
And if it were my last year on this earth, what would I want to do that I had not yet accomplished? I began to pursue art with the ultimate goal to write and illustrate my own children's books, certainly an illusive goal, as I am not there yet after thirty years, but then I have not died yet either. What a pleasant surprise, eh? I may get there yet. After studying high school art as a volunteer at Aspen High School for three and a half years with Barbara Smith, who was an incredibly fantastic teacher, I attended Peninsula Art School for a summer in Fish Creek WI, and have taken numerous workshops and classes at Coupeville Arts Center in Coupeville WA and Colorado Mountain College. Beyond that, I have been largely self-taught. Practice, practice, practice. My greatest inspiration and encouragement has come from reading about the works of Robert Wade, a very dear watercolorist who lives in Australia. After a couple of treatments at the City of Hope in Duarte CA and a daily intake of the Mannatech supplements and glyconutrients (Ambrotose) for a number of years, I am delighted to say that I am in excellent health, and am enjoying life as never before. God has been good to me.