About Us

Animal care, gardening and art have always been passions in my life. As a military spouse to a now retired Marine, life was busy. I've spent a 30-year career working in animal care and animal medical fields in several states and counties. After my husband retired, we moved to Kentucky where we raise goats and enjoy a less busy life. Slowing down has allowed more time for me to enjoy my passion for art. Having a love for animals and flowers, my art tends to reflect these.

I am a self-taught artist that just enjoys art. I've sampled and enjoyed a variety of art forms, types of mediums and materials used to create art though out the years. My favorite to work with is wood as my canvas and woodstain as my medium. With boards as my canvas and woodstain as my paint, I create an artistic image that highlights natural characteristics of wood grain through my art.

The concept of my woodstain art started in 2013. I had a table made of Knotty Pine that I was very fond of. Of course, that was the piece of furniture that my cat decided to jump up on putting a large scratch into it. Wanting to fix or hide the scratch without having to replace the table, I decided to paint a flower on the table. Not wanting to cover up the wood grain pattern of the table I decided to try and paint the flowers using woodstain instead of paint. The end result was a beautiful flower designed that showcased the wood grain patterns instead of masking them. Yes, it also hid the scratch well.

From then I was hooked on the concept of woodstain art. If my mind could dream it up, I wanted to find a way to make those thoughts work with woodstain. I would see a pattern from a painting or a dimension in a design and sit down with a board and woodstain trying to create ways to replicate them using techniques that allowed woodstain to work. Through lots of trial and error, I slowly developed methods that made wanting to create a design with woodstain become a reality for me.  Slowly creating a method of techniques that are uniquely mine.

I hand draw and outline for my image using pencil on a board or use a projector to trace a general outline. Using a rag and my fingers and fine detail paint brushes, I then pain my design. By layering both oils-based stains and water-based stains I am able to create layers of dimensions through my art. Some art may have a special specific detail that I wish to highlight in my design. Sometimes I will use a mixed material suck as glitter, acrylic paint, lace, ribbon or feathers to showcase these features.  Each design has multiple layers of woodstain and clear coats to it. With each layer requiring full dry times in between many art projects can take 1-4 weeks to complete in full.

Though most of my work reflects my love for animals and flowers, I do enjoy stepping out of my comfort zone to try new designs. Everything I do is hand painted, and I mix my own colors of stains. Therefore, no design is exactly identical to the next. making each design a unique one of a kind that is sure to make a statement.