About the Artist

   Misty Beauchamp has lived in Southwest Florida and the Caribbean for most of her life. She is fond of fishing, camping, and spending time in nature, and much of her work reflects the joy she gets from her time spent outdoors. She also travels occasionally and never allows an opportunity to see new places and acquire new reference material for painting to go unpursued.
   In her early years Misty spent a lot of time training and showing Arabian horses, but after having survived cancer twice, she can no longer participate in equestrian events. She has elected to satisfy her love of horses by painting them, and she has completed many commissioned works of horses and other animals, and has regularly sold work to private collectors over the years.
   Misty drew her first recognizable image- a duck- at age three, and she regularly drew and painted many subjects until 2001, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Due to her cancer treatments, Misty was forced to stop painting for several years, but she has recently resumed her art career. Unfortunately, due to the nerve damage and scar tissue from treatments, Misty cannot sit still for long periods of time and so finds taking art classes and long workshops particularly excruciating. She does do independent study as she is able, and strives to sketch and paint whenever she has a free moment. 
   Misty is a member of her local art league, and usually has one or two paintings on display at the Art League of Bonita Springs gallery shows. She does not limit herself to any one medium or style, but instead is trying to constantly push the envelope of creativity as far as it will go. She allows her subject to dictate her medium, and paints in an intuitive way, almost as a form of meditation. This process allows the work to manifest itself subtly over time, and often results in a quiet contemplative image that reflects the joy of life that Misty feels. 
   Misty's art philosophy is simple- The desire to make art is given by the Creator to certain people, and they have a duty to provide the rest of the world with images that glorify the Creator and bring joy to the lives of others. That is why she doesn't paint depressing, ugly things. She feels that the world gets enough ugliness and horror from the evening news, and she has no need to use her skills to bring attention to negative aspects of life. On the contrary, she believes that due to man's being created in the Image of God, that the thoughts and attentions of man actually have creative power- in other words, what one dwells on, one embodies and brings to fruition. Therefore it is best to dwell on positive, beautiful things.