From my early years growing up in Vermont, I have had an interest in the arts. The rural life of Vermont meant days spent enjoying the beauty of nature. I recall lying in the grass and looking up at the clouds. As they floated from one end of the valley to the other I would see images that changed as the clouds moved across the sky, leaving my imagination to run wild with visions of animals, people and all kinds of things. Then there were the walks in the woods, where I would find forms of creatures in the bark, branches, and leaves of the trees.