Art = Struggle = Art
From a distance, an artist’s journey can look like a neat progression:
Learn to paint ~> Develop a style ~> Enter shows ~> Win awards ~> Sell work ~> Repeat.
My journey has been nothing like that. I’m sure the same is true for most artists.
Stop by the 13th Annual Vail Valley Fine Arts Show Opening Reception on Friday September 18, 2026 5-8 pm. Free to attend. Lots of art, food, wine, and music!! If you can’t make the opening stop by any time for the next couple of months after or contact me for a private tour.
See my journey through art.
Art
I began making art twenty five years ago, just after the 9/11 terrorism attacks. I studied figure drawing and painting at the Art Students League of Denver and Palette & Chisel in Chicago. For years, art was a joyful pursuit squeezed around a demanding career in technology, family responsibilities, and ordinary life.
Struggle
Then, in 2018, I became seriously ill.
When treatments made it difficult to sit at an easel, my father drove with me to buy an iPad. I taught myself digital art during long infusions. Art became portable. It became accessible. More importantly, it became healing. And good thing!! I’m still battling chronic disease, offset by joy with my grandkids and my mountain life.
Art
Art was no longer something I did when life left enough room. Art was how I made room to live.
Over time, that private act of survival grew into something larger. My work moved into a vibrant phase reflecting my mountain life. Bright inks, oils, and acrylics. My art is shown in galleries, libraries, restaurants, festivals, solo exhibitions, art battles, and community spaces. I became a two-time award winner at the Vail Valley Fine Art Show, spoke at TEDx about perspective in visual art, and began curating artwork and managing art exhibitions at The Charter at Beaver Creek. I was even awarded Vail Valley’s Best Artist Award in 25-26!
Struggle
Somewhere along the way, I stopped asking, “Am I an artist?” But becoming an artist does not mean the struggle ends. Life does not arrange itself politely around a studio schedule. Early in 2026, my father died. Dad was my first art collector and my biggest fan. I am profoundly grateful that I was able to spend time caring for him during his final months.
At the same time, I was dealing with a serious infection.
At the same time, and ongoing this year, the needs of my family have required much of my time and travel to Denver.
This year, there have been shows I could not enter, opportunities I had to decline, and long stretches when the mountains outside my window felt strangely far away.
Art
The artwork I will show at the 13th Annual Vail Valley Art Show at Colorado Mountain College’s Edwards Campus was created inside struggle.
The skiers are small against bold expanses of Payne’s Grey. This year my work reflects the struggle of loss, illness, and and the mountains I miss. Without forethought, this year’s collection lacks the color and vibrancy of earlier works. It reflects the mountain I live in, but it also reflects the mountain I miss.
Not everything difficult must be turned into something beautiful. But sometimes, if we are fortunate, art gives us a place to put what we cannot otherwise carry.
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