Colleen was born in American Fork, Utah.  She studied drawing and painting at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Also private study with Michael Workman and T. Allen Lawson. Workshop study with Sally Strand and Doug Dawson.

I have been a professional artist for 15 years. I also teach national/international landscape painting workshops. In 2011, I will be teaching in southern Utah; Oregon; Jackson, Wyoming; and New Jersey and California.
I grew up on a cattle ranch in southwestern Montana. Our ranch was 1,000 acres of prime meadowland surrounded by beautiful granite mountains. All this beauty definitely inspired me, but I was always interested in drawing and painting.

Since that time I have lived in New York, California Utah and now, Hawaii. I love the varied tropical landscape and water views for their color, atmosphere and peaceful nature. I travel to different islands for painting plein air, and larger more detailed works are done in my studio. I feel that viewing art and making art are an integral part of our intelligence and creativity. Art allows us to expand who we are and how we think.