J.J. Jiang started his remarks at the IWS awards meeting like this, “Paint where you came from” Paint memories, reflect on gratitude for your family and your life. Convey in your works the beauty you feel about what you see. My childhood was full of adventure. I lived around animals of all shapes and sizes. Farm life contained a lot of work. I remember a shed with white rabbits in it to visit and a corral of cows to sing to. Memories of my father in the late afternoon surveying beautiful rows of newly sprouted sugar beets. As far as the eye could see.  My  love of nature and outdoors began here. I think my Dad was an artist in another life. While driving in the  mountains my dad would speak of the perfect hills of trees standing tall in the bend of the road,  the roaring river spanned   by footbridges, all these are where I came from. Art education really started in high school with a progressive art teacher named Carl Goodwin. At that time we had moved to McCall and so this was at McCall Donnelly high school and  we did everything!  Waxed up jewelry, silk screening,  pottery, fundamental studies of drawing and our acrylic painting in 18 x 24 format. At 15 I was designing and silk screening program covers for our thespian advisor. From a farm to the pine trees and mountains, a resort that we took care of and worked hard to maintain.  That is where I come from. Boise State was the college that was near to us and affordable.. I was an average student in high school and so I was an average student in college. I did have some art in college and I did well and  enjoyed the classes I took, however at that time art was not my focus.  College was too expensive so I had to let it go. With marriage and family and a new life with my husband in the military, I traveled to Germany. Out of the eight years Mitch was in the military, we were in Germany for five years, Berlin then in the middle of Germany at the Air Force Base  in Hessish Oldendorf for four years. While there I gave birth to three daughters in a  British military hospital. I convinced my husband to leave the military after eight years and return home to Idaho. I have always been creative and  when my children’s school were having carnivals I would be the face painter, securely tethered to the face painting booth.  It was easy for me. Many many years later my daughter started working at Edwards greenhouse and employed me painting backgrounds for directional signs and ultimately doing face painting at the harvest festival every year.  The excitement and delight of both children and parents sparked the artist in me. Once a year I put my face painting designs in a bag and worried about my abilities. My daughter would encourage me and of course I was fine. Oh my  the lines of children waiting to get their faces painted were long. After retirement my daughter suggested I paint with the group that comes to Edwards every Wednesday.  I had never painted plein air and even though I was always doing artsy things often I have had no professional training. 

 Here I am making art and enjoying the journey.