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Studio Snapshot
White Owl Designs
Santa Cruz, California
I began painting and selling my work at 14 years old. I paint original art on canvas, board and bead. I paint because I am compelled - not painting is simply not an option for me.
My earliest work and shows were in watercolor and acrylics. I then moved to oils in college. I began college at 15 years old and studied fine art and medieval studies at the University of Texas in San Antonio and Austin.
I have lived and painted all over Texas and the Desert southwest, Boulder, Colorado, Anchorage, Alaska and finally settled down in the paradise of Santa Cruz, California. I have been working out of my studio in Santa Cruz creating canvas and bead now for over 15 years.
Painting to me is as much of a journey, a dialog with life as it is a thing that I do. It is how I see the world. It teaches me continually, and causes me to reach inside of myself and be better all the time.
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Drawing
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12 itemsAbout Me
To create a piece of art, a bead, or a piece of jewelry that someone appreciates and takes home for their own is the greatest gift there is. That alone brings me more joy than 100 Christmases, it is the balance of what it is that I do.One evening in the Chihuahua Desert, in an area known as Big Bend, I was camping with my Father and my Brother. I knew I wanted to start my own business using my passion for painting and combining it with my love for beads and making jewelry. At our campsite I was thinking about my goals and what to call this adventure of mine. A very large white owl flew over the campsite low, as if to linger just over me long enough for me to see it well. It was a very special moment. I returned home and painted over 1000 beads and quit my day job. I named my studio White Owl Designs and have been painting canvas and bead every since.
My acrylic paintings are very symbolic in nature exploring the way I view the world internally, as metaphor. My Watercolors are external, expressing the way I view the natural world. For myself, watercolor lends itself to natural and spontaneous - acrylic to the symbol and storytelling.
My beads are painted with a porcupine quill on wood in a technique I developed myself then dipped in a proprietary mixture to protect it and give it that thick super shine wet paint look I love. I sell my beads individually and in jewelry creations that I approach like my paintings. Each one is a story, a unique and original design.