About

I'm a writer, painter, illustrator, actor and other things, creatively hatched in Chicago with time spent all over the country. Currently I live in lovely Santa Cruz, California, where flowers bloom so much you'll catch your self saying "really???"I started painting and drawing as a kid, but walked away to the world of theater for a very long time. Really until a friend wanted to buy a painting of a cow that was boring, expensive and awful. I insisted I'd paint her one instead. So I did, with notes of Van Gogh based on the cow from Chick Fil A, just because that was easy to Google. Voila:

And then I thought: oh no. What have I done. This is far too serious for my wonderful and deeply fun friend. She needs to laugh at it. So I made her another painting, for balance. This time with notes of Pee Wee Herman, first dates, and corporate ID photos.

Aaah, that's better.That lead to painting 12 more cows and branching out into new territory, like organs and words and landscapes. And some of the many Buddhas."But Seriously, Why Cows?"I used to work for the American Dental Association where we regularly got issues of Chemical Week. I loved the pictures of the chemists, who never had to sell themselves based on what they looked like and mostly looked the same. Wonderfully boring, sensibly dressed, but with personalities peeking out. I cut them out and collected them in a notebook. I can still visualize those guys, and their portraits inspired those cows.The more I painted them, the more they feel like a satisfying blank canvas to express human emotions that only come out in long german words. Like the feeling of smiling for your company portrait while thinking about 900 other things. Or being a teeny bit of a psycho that's overly proud of your teeth. Or just existential dread in a button down. Cows are so neutral, and don't have the baggage that a person's looks have. Like you can't see one of these cows and think "of course they're nervous, they're [insert any judgement]." Freeing!Now Some HistoryMy first solo show "Dressed Meats" happened in Chicago at the T. Salon & Gallery. Since then, I've shown at the Paradox in Santa Cruz, Purrrfest, and joined The Tannery Art Studios, where I participate in First Fridays and share a space with the soul capturing [Suzy Rad] (https://www.suzyradarts.com/).I also illustrated Someday a Bird Will Poop on You for Little Brown, painted for 111 Portraits of Berwyn, made signs for The Wasteshed, and the poster for Showtime's "Work In Progress" Sundance Film Festival debut.Photos by Tannery Prints, @wencphoto, @prezpipe and some by me.

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"Okay, so you're scared. Big deal." - Kathy Kellie

Contact

All paintings for sale through Me, Megan.Contact me for more info, pricing and commissions.

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