Welcome to my first blog post!

I thought for my first blog I would share a little more about myself, my family and my journey with art and furniture painting. I am married to my husband Jeff for 19 years. He is a firefighter currently working the Fire Marshalls office. I followed him to Virginia from New Jersey in 2001 taking a position as a nurse in a local trauma center. It was a great job and I learned so much but then 9/11 happened. To help him mentally heal, we left Northern Virginia and moved to the Shenandoah Valley. We fell in love with the valley. It is still one of our favorite places on earth. In 2006 we purchased a home in Chester Gap, VA very close to the Appalachian Trail and Shenandoah National Park. My husband loves the mountains. I am more of a beach lover so in 2016 we moved to King William VA. I LOVE living this close to the ocean, the Chesapeake Bay and our many rivers! We also found a great church family at Passion Community Church. More about my amazing church in another post. We have 2 cats, Peanut and KatyKat and 3 dogs, Tigger (boxer mix), Zoey (Boston Terrier) and Gunny (Belgian Malinois). Below are pictures of Zoey and Gunny.

I have always had a strong creative drive. As a child I would make clothes for my Barbie dolls. Our neighbor made bridal dresses from pictures, and I would spend hours watching her create these masterpieces. In high school I decided I wanted to take art classes and loved it. I even had several paintings that we sent to art show for high schools’ students. Unfortunately, despite my talent the common message was art is a nice hobby, but you will not be able to support yourself as an artist. So, I went to nursing school. Don’t get me wrong, I love nursing and loved my career as a nurse. But my soul always longed for creativity, color, design, and expression. For many years (20+), I have been a quilter. Loved making beautiful blankets of love but around 2014 I caught the furniture painting bug. We had a bathroom leak that resulted in a remodel and decided to try my hand at painting the vanity instead of replacing. That was all it took. Now every piece of roadside furniture trash has the potential to be a piece of functional furniture art. My latest endeavor has been to paint actual scenes from around the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula of VA on furniture. My latest piece is a scene from Yorktown Beach. (picture attached).

Going forward, I am going to continue to incorporate scenes from this beautiful, historical area that I love on my furniture. Maybe some lighthouses, bridges, landmarks, or local lore? I don’t know what will inspire me but hope you will subscribe so we can stay in touch! I believe that God gives us all gifts and talents. He also has a plan for each of our lives and I am so thankful that He has awoken this creative passion in my life, and I will continue to honor him in all that I do.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Tim 1:7