Hi, I'm Jo Ellen

At age 10 when my parents moved from southern Miss. to Washington State, I saw my first mountains, different colors  green, snow,  water falls and instantly decided I wanted to be an artist. Eighteen years later, I painted my first picture and was told, "you need to take art lessons".  Two of my friends liked the idea, so every Tue. evening we piled into the car, got a babysitter for the kids and tried our hand at being artistic.  I was a misarable failure, however, after four  years of study, lessons, trial and error it finally happend.  Other people in the class were asking me for help.  My teacher asked me to quit taking class and just come paint with her as a friend.  I did, and also started teaching at her suggestion.   I still teach two classes of 6 kids on Sat. and it makes my week! They're creative, not afraid to try my crazy ideas, and keep me on my toes always searching for new ideas, methods, product and ways to teach. Their parents are always  proud of them and you should see the kids glow with pride.