Drawing and a love of animals and nature has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mother loves
art and music, but I’m not sure where my passion for animals, nature and natural science came from. Whether divine inspiration
or genetics, my passions have taken me on the meandering journey that has been my life thus far.
My early drawings
were rather primitive; pretty much what you’d expect from a two year old. My parents gave me drawing pad after drawing
pad and I still have a few of these early works. My artistic efforts were encouraged by my parents, and especially my mother
who would take my sister and me to the St. Louis Art Museum to participate in their summer programs.
I rapidly developed
into a “color within the lines” kind of girl, with an interest in realistic representation in my art. I mainly
worked in graphite, drawing animals. Ok, I admit it, I drew horses, horses, horses. I was, after all, a teenage girl. Eventually
my interests expanded and I worked on a variety of subject matter and experimented with a variety of media.
I went off to
college to pursue a degree in biology with the plan of going to veterinary school. I also was determined to get a minor in
art. I was in animals versus art conflict. Before college I sat down to make a decision between animals and art. I could be
a veterinarian or an artist. I decided on veterinarian because it would give me the knowledge of animals I craved and because
artists don’t make any money. Had I known about scientific illustration at the time, I might have made a different choice.
Unfortunately
they didn’t teach representational art at college. It was all about conceptual art. What to do, what to do? Well, I
continued to teach myself how to draw. I went to vet school, and although I loved what I learned and will never regret going
through the program, the practice of veterinary medicine was not for me. The art bug was still tugging at my soul and I decided
to start pursuing art again. Somehow I needed to combine my love of animals with my desire to be an artist, and maybe throw
in a bit of veterinary knowledge as well.
I pieced together my own art program and eventually discovered some
wonderful teachers who taught representational art. With their help I was able to further develop my skills and I decided
to become an artist and illustrator, concentrating on children’s books, animal portraits, botanical and scientific illustration.
I also love to work on illustrations of pure whimsy, and yes, I’m still drawing horses, horses, horses.
Thanks so much for your interest in
my work!
Cindy