Everything and everyone has a beginning

I am a child of country folk — raised among brick buildings, mud puddles, and horse tracks. Surrounded by this picturesque and carefree life, I had the freedom to imagine and create. I’d draw in the margins of my school notebooks, dreaming of one day becoming a real painter.

The first time I made a “painting,” I used my older sister’s vast nail polish collection on a piece of cardstock. The results were... impressive. Maybe not for my sister, but certainly for my 11-year-old creative mind.

Later on, I did what everyone does — I grew up, got busy, and forgot all about my childhood dream of becoming a painter. That was until one day, as I pushed my shopping cart along Costco’s aisles with my three little ones at the time, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. A glorious wooden easel — complete with a set of oil paints, mixing mediums, and a handful of long-handled brushes. It even came with a small batch of canvas paper to get started right away. Of course, I couldn't turn my back on that. I gave it a brief thought, quickly reduced my grocery list to the bare minimum, and bought the easel instead.

That was back in 2004. Since then, I’ve made tons of art — most of it not so good. But all that trying and playing is what eventually led me to develop my current art style. Since then, I’ve been to art shows, expos, craft shops, art centers, and numerous competitions. I even taught a rag doll class once at an art center where we hand-painted Mexican rag doll faces. They were beautiful.

One thing I noticed early on in my learning is that I am drawn to painting women, often with their children. Later, I started experimenting with flowers — and now that's my new obsession.

In any case, that’s who I am and that’s what I do. Building Serenata Paper Co has been a dream of mine for the last few years, and it’s such a joy to finally see it coming alive.