y father is an artist. He would sit down and color with me in my coloring books when I was a child. But he didn't just color, he created the most amazing pages I had ever seen . . . it was mesmerizing. He blended colors, creating textures and shading and when he was finished I was in awe.

I asked him to teach me to shade when I was 6 years old. I always asked him to share his secrets and hoped the magic he created with those crayons would rub off on me. Well, the magic rubbed off and the reason I am an artist today is because of my father and the passion I have for my art stems from those early days.

A day does not go by that my father and I don't draw. He is the master "landscape and building" artist, I am the apprentice "people and animal" artist. Our passion is the same — our styles are quite different. I hope to have some of his art linked to my site in the near future.

graduated from Fremont High School in 1972 and attended San Diego State University for two years before moving to Modesto, California. I graduated from Stanislaus State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Although my degree is significant, the experience I absorbed from the many art classes was priceless.

My degree helped me get a job at The Modesto Bee, a daily newspaper in California in 1982 but my portfolio is what clinched the deal. You may have natural born talent but there is so much more that needs to be learned in being an artist and you can get that through college or art school.

I have been using the computer since 1984 when the first Macintosh came out and I have evolved with the introduction of each new computer-art program. Although special pen tools and tablets are available for a more traditional "pencil feel", I cannot give up my mouse. The mouse is like an extension of my hand now and I use it with the ease of a paintbrush.

A lot of the whimsical art you see on my "Touch of Whimsy" page was actually done by me for my newspaper. As I progress with this website I will start to describe the mediums and methods for each piece of art. I will list paints I use, paper, computer applications and even the number of hours I worked on a piece. These are generally things I want to know as I visit other artists' sites. I want to know their little secrets . . . what number pencil did they use and was that paper "hot press" or "cold press"?

For the general viewer of my site, I will describe the story behind each piece of art. The Glenn Cadrez watercolor was a commission piece I did for his wife after the Broncos had won their second Super Bowl. He had been named "NFL player of the week" and we were given special permission to use a Denver newspaper photo as a reference.

The books I illustrated have their own little stories . . . even the ones that haven't published. Author Justin Matott and I are hard at work on our fourth book which will publish in the spring of 2004. It is a "flip book" about aliens who have visited our planet (copyright 2003).

An additional focus has come my way by a chance meeting on the internet. A portrait I did of Clay Aiken, runner-up on Fox's hit show American Idol, was seen by his mother who contacted me and asked if they could use it on their charity t-shirts. Partial proceeds of the shirt sales raise money for the Autism Society. Another portrait I illustrated was signed by Clay and auctioned during a Durham Bulls' game in which Clay sang the National Anthem. It raised $2,000.00. Three other portraits followed.

I will continue to support charities in Clay's name. Updates will be posted at this website along with information on purchasing items from PKD Screen Printing in Raleigh, North Carolina.

My website will continue to evolve and I hope to be able to sell some of my art, prints, and books in the near future.

I encourage you to email me with questions you may have about my work and possible commission requests as well.   -- Laurie