From the time I was a child in Illinois, I loved to ride and draw horses. By the time I was in high school, I majored in Commercial Art in the vocational branch available on our campus. At Western Illinois University I majored in art, specializing in portraits and figure drawing. Keeping up my interest in horses, during the summers I showed five-gaited horses in county and state fairs. When I graduated, jobs for art teachers were scarce, so I taught English, my second major, both at the high school and university level. Thus, my art was put on the back burner for many years when I married, raised three children, before returning to teaching English again after twenty years off. During those years my husband, Ralph, and I built a mountain home, raised cattle and quarter horses all while he taught physical education and fifth grade. When we retired, I was teaching English and composition to adults at a local community college. In retirement we built a mountain cabin, and I began writing adventure novels for young adults. In 2009 we sought a warm place for our winters and bought a home in Rio Verde, AZ. We gloried in the outdoor activities available here and I began dabbling in art again along with my writing. I took gourd classes from Margaret Sullivan, watercolor classes from Lori Coue and drawing from Eddie Lopez to brush off the rust. I am now eager to try more art venues as I continue my writing, biking, bocce and hiking—and quilting and genealogy and…  Having equally active and welcoming people around me keeps me energized in this community.