After a lifelong love of all types of crafting to include needlework, quilting, polymer clay and, yes, even macramé (if it’s out there, I’ve tried it), in 1988 I decided I had found what I wanted to do – paint.  I had no experience and no skill so I signed up for local classes in the Washington, D.C. area and was hooked.  I immediately began grumbling about wanting to take classes with the “Big Names” – and so to hush me up – my husband sent me to Panama City Beach to take a class with Priscilla Hauser.  While there, I stayed at Carol Wolske’s Wisteria Inn and in the evenings Carol would have all the girls gather around her dining room table and she’d introduce us to “new” things.  One of the “new things” she introduced me to was Mary’s pen and ink with oil rouging.  I was fascinated with the technique so I immediately signed up for her certification class and was “hooked”.  So hooked, in fact, that I’ve taken the certification twice, simply because it’s so much fun. 

It’s a technique that the beginner and the advanced painter can find both challenging and rewarding and one that not only teaches you a specific style of painting, but also shows you how to open doors to a myriad of ideas and possibilities.  I think I’m especially drawn to Mary’s technique because you can take a first time painter who’s never even held a brush and show them that this is something they can do – and they have a good experience.  This good experience leads to a lifelong love affair with decorative painting.

            While I have little time to actually teach at the moment, I’m only 2 years from retirement and plan to teach full-time after that.  I am a member of the National Society of Decorative Painters, as well as the local National Capitol Region Chapter and am both a Mary Owens and Priscilla Hauser certified instructor.  I have take training with Brenda Stewart, Maureen McNaughton, Karen Hubbard and Jillybean