My greatest pleasure comes from seeing one enjoy the way in which I have chosen to demonstrate and interpret the organic and natural materials that I have included in a given design palate. Awakening the viewer’s senses to the vast wealth and bounty that nature provides fuels my desire to seek, to search, to inspire, and to learn.

Having enjoyed traditional art classes in school, I was a late comer in my return to the applied arts and its creative process. During my treatment and subsequent recovery time from cancer in 1999, my friend Walter McKay, asked the late Judith (Judy) Wagner Hanson to do a few classes of oil painting at her studio as he thought that this would be a good activity for me. I was “hooked” and found great pleasure from the start. This became a wonderful outlet where I could lose myself for hours at a time.

My professional career was as a professor at Mississippi State University in the Department of Horticulture where I rose to the rank of Professor and retired as Professor Emeritus after twenty-five years of service in 1992. During my tenure there and since retiring, I have had the opportunity to represent the university on many occasions with invitations from around the world for floral design presentations. My characteristic “creative naturalistic” style became known and appreciated by many audiences. This development and influence was recognized and honored by the “Award of Design Influence” by the American Institute of Floral Designers in 2007 as only the third living American to receive this prestigious award.

I have by invitation been a keynote design speaker at more than 1200 presentations around the globe including the Smithsonian, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Art Institute, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the New York Botanical Garden, the Virginia Museum of Art, and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Presentations have also been done in London, Oslo, Cape Town, Sydney, Tokyo, and Mexico City.

As an internationally recognized judge, I have been asked to adjudicate many national and international floral design competitions around the world. My floral experiences have been many and varied and include the opportunity to plan, execute, and administer many wonderful events including several White House parties, presidential Inaugurals, romantic weddings, and other special events.

Awards include Fellow-American Institute of Floral Designers, The Poetker Award-Enhancement of the American Aesthetic by the American Horticulture Society, Tommy Bright Award for Floral Commentary by the Society of American Florists, and Awards of Service by both the Mississippi Florist Association and by the Garden Clubs of Mississippi as well as numerous others.

This exhibit “Organic Evolution” is the culmination of the many influences that have shaped my creative style. While several differing styles are shown through varied expressions and mediums, it all harkens back to the organic roots from which I came. My “beginnings” are from a rural upbringing surrounded by nature of the woodlands, pastures, and roadsides and it is from these sources that I prefer to gather my design materials and idea interpretations today.

Being a self-taught, or should I say a continuting self-learning painter, I am soaking up information from everyone everywhere. As I move forward, I build on discovery one step at a time. I have been painting since about 1988, and as the years have gone by, the feeling I get from my art is deeply emotional. It's a passion that is fueled by the energy and adventure of the process when the harmony is there with just the right balance. Sometimes the feelings of the moment are too big to put into words, so I put them on canvas as they come from my heart as well as from what I am seeing and experiencing.

I have a B.S. degree in Home Economics from MUW with a specialization in Fashion Merchandising. I was born in Texas and lived in Sourth Carolina for a short time, but really spent my early years growing up in Mendenhall, MS. After graduation from MUW, I have lived in Columbus with my husband, Bertram. We have two married daughters, Monica (and her husband, Keith Cole and my grandson, Michael) and Margo (and her husband Cooper Scoggins and my granddaughter, Catherine)

The Lord has blessed me by giving me the ability to be a visual being. My life's journey, from even as a small child, has always included creating and now oil painting to continue with great enthusiasm to grow and learn from our surroundings to capture moments in light and color. I hope to continue to explore and enhance my talent with bold brush strokes or sometimes small ones, creating detail with light and color in a harmonious space with various dimensions to create a pleasant feel that engages all the senses with an impressionist feeling of light and the richness of color.

I use oil paint on canvas and board. The subject matter consists of landscapes, florals, still life, waterscapes and abstracts. I thank God for giving me my passion and love for painting.

My work has been exhibited at Fish Alley Art, the Bath Station, the Rosenzweig Arts Center, the Jeans and Jazz auction, the Patriot Gala and Auction, the Columbus Arts Council Auction, the Fairfield Inn Grand Opening, the GumTree Museum of Art, the Starkville Art Exchange, the Columbus Antique Show and Sale, and in public and private collections.

I have enjoyed being a member of the Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art in Tuscaloosa and the Mississippi State Committee on the National Museum of Women in the Arts. "Being an artist, you're always in a state of creation."