My earliest memory is painting a dog and I was rarely without a pencil in my
hand during my childhood.  In college I majored in art but then pursued a career
in Occupational Therapy.  However, I kept my artistic skills from getting rusty by
illustrating for magazines, books and newspapers.  

In the 1980s I began to seriously pursue painting and studied with nationally 
known artists, Albert Handell, Ray Vinella, William Hook and Doug Dawson. I 
fell in love with the rich, vivid colors and immediacyof pastels.  Using soft pastels
from France on paper with a sanded surface which I prepare myself, I try to capture
the subtle effects of light and colors of the New Mexico landscape, animals and
flowers.  My style is impressionistic and I attempt to evoke an emotional response
rather than strive for total photographic realism.

In my animal portraits I struggle with composition, likeness and capturing the 
character of the animal much in the same way any portrait painter does.  My goal
is to create a likeness of the animal AND make a superb painting, much like the old 
masters Landseer and Stubbs, and later Carl Rungius did.  Recently I've taken up
the challenge of landscape painting in acrylics.

I live in New Mexico with my scientist husband, Bill Priedhorsky, our son Petey 
and Banner, a big lug of a Bernese Mountain Dog.  An avid camper and hiker, I'm 
often found painting the scenery on family fishing trips.