I just launched my first Etsy shop, Lakes & Lights, featuring the art I've made in the past few years. After being encouraged to sell my art, I finally put a few things up on Etsy.
I've loved making art ever since I was little. I was the kid who drew a bicycle in kindergarten while the other five-year-olds crowded around, and the fifth grader whose painting was mistaken for the teacher's. By the time I hit high school and college, I became less of a stand-out while other students got serious about their art, and I never really pursued it as more than a hobby, taking an art class here and there when I had time for electives. I've always made paintings and drawings for friends and family, but I've certainly never been serious about it. I'm still very much an amateur.
I learned plein air sketching and watercolor painting from my fantastic Augsburg College professor Tara Sweeney in Italy in 2011 and ever since, I've always carried a sketchbook with me. She taught me that painting and sketching help you see and experience traveling in a way that cameras can't. Basically everything I know about watercolor and sketching, I learned from Tara.
Lakes & Lights is inspired by my two homes, the City of Lakes (Minneapolis) and the City of Light (Paris), and anywhere in between.
