From the time I was a small child I loved gathering things that caught my eye. I loved old things full of color and hope and the idea of what they could be always made me giggle, even if they just sat on my shelf for years. My mother refers to me as a magpie, always gathering and storing what others would toss aside.
As a child I envied the other children at school who had a natural ability to draw and paint and as hard as I tried I never seemed to be able to do what they could. As I grew into a teenage girl who pushed the boundaries of fashion I started to discover ways to express my creativity outside of drawing or painting. I wrote all of the time and began to dabble in arts and crafts.
In college I majored in English and Performing Arts and with a few courses in design I soon gained enough confidence and knowledge to take what I loved, color, and create things that represented me. I no longer cared that it didn’t look like everyone else’s art because it was mine and it made me happy.
My young adult years sent me barreling into motherhood where I found myself more inspired than ever. I began freelance writing children’s books for Dalmatian Press and while trying to have my other children’s books published I started dabbling with illustration. Experimenting with color, texture, and mixed media techniques. . .I was in heaven and soon started putting my art out there for others to see.
For all of those things that I gathered, even as a little one, they finally came full circle. As my family and I took on the challenge of building our dream home out of a grain silo, I was envisioning those treasures as pieces of art and furniture that would make a statement in our new house. With a little bit of elbow grease and the help of our amazing carpenter, Montie Couch, those visions became reality and out of that grew Silo Studios.
Now I spend my days either in the studio painting, creating, and designing, or out in junk stores and run down estates gathering goods for future pieces. It is a blessing. And it is my hope that I can share my blessings with others by offering fun and affordable art and furniture that makes everyone smile and sometimes even giggle.
