I was encouraged to draw from a very early age. My mother loved to sketch and paint, and together they would draw fashion designs as well as paint watercolor landscapes. We also sewed and made fabric art together. In junior high, I began taking formal art classes and later pursued training in oil painting.
In college, I majored in biology and used my artistic skills to illustrate my lab notebooks. This skill also proved useful illustrating my own scientific publications and instructional materials.
I found that capturing the minute details of living beings gave me a new respect for the diversity of life and the intriguing adaptations displayed in nature. It was also an important way to relax, go inward, and then artistically express the spirit of living beings as I saw and felt them.
As life became busy with children and career, I pivoted to photography. I have one published photograph from a biological field experience in Costa Rica that appeared in the book Community Colleges: A Century of Success.
As a retired community college president, I have come full circle, sketching and painting life around me. With time and maturity, I have developed a great deal more patience and freedom in the way I capture the spirits of my subjects.