I grew up in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, but my parents always prioritized being out in nature. I spent most summers growing up visiting national parks in the western United States and Canada. My first year of college, I saved up enough money for my own camera by illustrating over 10 national park coloring books and hundreds of pages for kids with an Art Therapist, Christina Di Mari. Three years later, I take all of my own references for my landscape paintings and donate back to the national parks.