Biography

Growing up on the coast of California, Yvonne has always had an intense love of animals, the outdoors, horses, and the western way of life. Riding horses through the hills of California, she would imagine what the landscape might have looked like before the presence of modern-day civilization. She had always had an interest in art, and though formal education took a different direction, she took classes in photography, drawing and art appreciation in college.

After receiving a BS degree in Animal Science and an MBA in Ag Business, Yvonne moved to Texas for her first professional position. Living in the Texas Panhandle, she was enamored with the wide-open spaces, cowboy way of life, and the abundance of cattle and horses.

In 2016, Yvonne started traveling to Arizona for the winters with her horses to enjoy the wonderful winter weather and compete in various equine activities like roping and reining. Her oil painting journey started in 2018 when she decided to spend one long hot summer in AZ instead of returning to Texas. The afternoons were so hot that she signed up for an oil painting class at the Phoenix Center for the Arts. After one class in oil painting, she was hooked. She continued to paint on her own and eventually met Marless Fellows, a professional artist working in Cave Creek. She began taking lessons from Marless, whose excellent instruction and ability to teach many of the basics she needed to move her art forward by leaps and bounds.

She now lives full time in Santo, Texas, about 45 miles west of Fort Worth, where she and her husband have acreage and are blessed to keep horses on their property. There she can enjoy them daily and continue to compete in reining, roping and working cow horses.