The Palo Verde Artists have named Linda K. Wilson as its artist of the month and residents are invited to view her work on display in the showcase outside the Palo Verde Artists’ clubroom on the second level of Sundial Recreation Center, 14801 N. 103rd Ave.

The gallery inside the club room is also open to the public for viewing.

Wilson’s art journey began as a five-year-old in a vacant lot next door to her parents’ house in Omaha, NE. She and a friend dug holes in the dirt, filled the holes with water from a hose and made “dough,” which they placed into tin pans. The mud pies were decorated with flowers, weeds and stones and set in the hot sun to dry.

Her first art class was in high school, where her teacher told her that her drawings “were no better than a kindergartner’s.” She was crushed and dropped out of the class. As a result, Wilson became interested in other ways of expressing her creativity. Her parents were instrumental in supporting her and enrolled her in accordion lessons at age 8. She played her accordion for the Miss Nebraska Czech pageant and was crowned queen.

Her dad taught her to take photographs with a Brownie camera at a young age and later taught her to splice movie film and edit photos using modern technology. On her 35th birthday, Wilson received a cake decorating class as a gift from her mother and learned to create custom cakes, which she hand-decorated with 3D icing effects to match napkins, cards, etc. She even began making custom-decorated shirts to match the cakes. Wilson and her mother spent many hours blowing eggs and decorating them with jewels and beads or placing an ornament or picture inside the egg.

Wilson learned to make custom sewing patterns from which she would make matching clothes, including pants, shirts, jackets and purses. As a mother of three boys, she would create unique costumes for them to wear at Halloween. Other needlecrafts included knitting, crocheting, latch hooking rugs and needlepoint.

About a year ago, Wilson decided to try painting and drawing again. She joined Palo Verde Artists and Artists by the Lake art clubs and, much to her surprise, found she really did enjoy it. Even though she considers herself a self-taught beginner, she finds painting and drawing challenging but very relaxing. At times, she cannot paint what she sees and when asked “Where is the light source?” she responds, “Let the light source be in your imagination, as it truly is in mine.”

Wilson is proud to have recently won an “Honorable Mention” award for her entry in Artists by the Lake’s art show. Her advice to anyone thinking of trying art is, “Everyone should give any type of art a try. Being able to create something takes you into a different world.”

Membership in Palo Verde Artists is $10 per year and is open to Recreation Centers of Sun City cardholders only. Visit paloverdeartists.com for more information.