I had an interest in art at a very young age and when I was 12 wanted to became a cartoonist. My interests turned to the fine arts as a teen when I saw the book “Jazz” by Henri Matisse for the first time. My early paintings were mostly of colorful expressionist monsters. I turned to bright colorful abstracts by the time I went to college in Seattle, Washington. While at school, My focus included collage, found images paintings and drawings, and text based art. I continued perusing those themes in my work even after returning to Wisconsin in 2002.
In 2008 I began selling toys online under the moniker of Happycloud Thunderhead. When I first Opened my shop I listed a bunch of small collages. They didn't sell. I chose the name Happycloud Initially, because it was my myspace screen name. A few months later, after making a few prototype plush toys, I decided to try Etsy again. My first three sales were actually to myspace friends.
I became interested in sewing and crafts in high school, home economics courses and art class, soft sculpture projects. I began experimenting with sewing again in 2007, soon after inheriting a sewing machine from my grandmother. Inspired by a variety of cartoons, comics, and video game characters, I worked through trial and error to design and sew plush monsters, dolls and hats. I invented the Kingdom of Thunderhead and the village of Happycloud for my characters to reside. Soon, these characters would take over my artwork, as an interest in illustration and character design quickly developed. My paintings now use my own illustrations treated as found images, often with layered images and colors applied to line drawings in a random matter.
In 2012 I decided to take a break from making plush and illustration to focus on Fine art. However, my interest in this work has been rekindled and while not necessarily focusing on plush, Happycloud Thunderhead is getting a renewed focus.