HI! I’m Courtney aka Fryxie.

Throughout my life there has been one running narrative- creativity. All of my favorite memories and achievements, it turns out, have involved something creative or artistic.

I remember walking the halls of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh with my Mom as a little kid staring at Mondrian’s and Warhol’s. Watching my Mom paint, sew, build things and make me the most amazing birthday cakes. Traveling to Chicago so I could see some of Monet’s Water Lilies series and Seurat’s pointillism masterpiece A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. I remember when we got home, I flattened all my crayons trying to make my own pointillism piece on newsprint.

Whether I was a third grader just learning about art and falling in love with Georgia O’Keefe’s work and pastels or a college student making elaborate signs and costumes for game day, creativity and art were part of the canvas of my childhood.

For the first part of my career I took a more academic route- working in politics and for non-profits, utilizing my degrees in Political Science and American and Southern Studies from Vanderbilt. Looking back, in each and everyone of my employments, I have done something creative and visual.

As a graduate student and student mentor I designed t-shirts and posters that are still used twenty years later! While working at a non-profit in DC I brought together over 1,000 people to create a human postcard demanding action by Congress and designed fliers and collateral for university groups around the country. I took my lunch breaks in the National Galleries and spent my weekends roaming the halls.

When I moved to Colorado in late 2008, I integrated design projects into all of my student organizing work- t-shirts, pins, stickers. Switching to fundraising work for the next several years, I did layout and design for mail-pieces and newsletters. Out of necessity, I taught myself web design and my career quickly took off.

For the past ten years I’ve been able to create almost daily whether fliers, logos, and palm cards or more websites than I can remember for an international consulting firm.

Personally, I’ve spent most of my free time creating. I sewed my son’s clothes until he was three and had many of my designs published as fabric for a national textile house. I renovated two houses, including an entire kitchen while having Covid. I knitted so much that I had to have surgery (ha!). I’ve taught myself logo and font design, video editing and basic animation. I’ve enjoyed jewelry design and resin art work too! I’ve designed complex projects and designs for my laser and paper cutters using Adobe Illustrator. I’ve made everything from custom T-shirts and hand-painted shoes to turning our house into Disney’s Haunted Mansion Holiday (complete with a hand carved dog house for Zero!). I love taking my son’s ideas and helping him evolve them into something even more wonderful. Recently, I’ve been 3d printing and designing my own 3d printed mouse ears for our Disney trips.

My passion for drawing and design design has been let out through my pet and house portrait commissions. I love to bring out peoples’ pet’s personalities through my drawings. I’m currently in a class to improve my drawing and character development. I’m also working on more surface pattern designs.

You know, I didn’t realize all the ways that art and creating has touched my life until I sat down to write this.

In Coelho’s “The Alchemist” the boy goes on a journey to find his “personal legend,” in other words, his life’s calling. Along the way he sees omens that guide him toward his calling: lessons and experiences that utilize his passion drawing him forward to his legend. Creativity has always been my omen.

Creatively,
Courtney