The School of Sacred Art

My art education began in 2012, when I felt a deep need to learn how to paint an image of my daughter Lily that would not leave my mind. After asking a friend if she might paint it for me, she instead encouraged me to meet her art instructor, Scott Wallis. That introduction began a journey I never could have anticipated.

For the past fourteen years, I have studied regularly with Scott Wallis and Kathy Wilson, along with workshops and courses taught by Sandra Rast, Anne Marie Oborn, Jake Songer, J. Kirk Richards, and others. I have also been grateful for personal mentorship with Daniel Gerhartz, continued study through the teachings of artists in the Richard Schmid tradition, Life Drawing Academy, Christine Lashley, Barry John Raybould, and additional online coursework.

My education has also included university drawing and painting courses, a two-week portrait painting intensive in Tuscany with Nic Thurman, regular figure drawing classes, and a watercolor workshop in Paris.

More than learning how to paint, these years have taught me how to see — to notice color, light, shape, people, nature, and the beauty of creation with greater attention and gratitude.

That way of seeing has become one of the greatest gifts of my art education, and one I love sharing with others.

Here in the Atelier, I share what I love and continue to learn about art, beauty, nature, and God’s creations — with the hope of inspiring curiosity and helping us see the world more deeply.

I believe learning begins with wonder: with slowing down, looking closely, and allowing beauty and creation to lead us toward gratitude, joy, and inspiration. From time to time I will share what I am learning from my easel as well as lessons and studies in drawing and painting, art history and the great masters, composition, color, light, symbolism, nature, literature, and other things that have shaped the way I see and create.

Atelier Studies is for those who want to go beyond the complimentary lessons offered throughout the website and spend more time with a subject.

These deeper studies will explore drawing and painting, the great masters, composition, color, light, symbolism, nature, literature, music, poetry, and the traditions that continue to shape the way I see and create.

From time to time, I’ll share what I am learning, experimenting with, or considering as I paint.

These notes are a quiet record of work in progress—the questions, discoveries, challenges, and moments of wonder that continue to shape me as an artist.