Joan MacKenzie Pika Works Painting Essex Junction, Vermont

Joan MacKenzie, a self-taught artist, loves animals and color. She has spent many happy hours photographing pikas in their mountain homes, mosses in the woods, and zebras and giraffes at the zoo. Back at home, she captures their personalities with watercolors or acrylics. Bright colors are used in unusual ways to jazz up the animals or to enhance their habitats. In 1998 she created Pika Works, a line of greeting cards starring the pikas, their wild neighbors and other animals as they spark her imagination. In April 2001 she encountered a moose and her yearling daughter in the woods near Mt. Mansfield as the snow slowly melted. Molly and Dolly Moose star in a series of popular paintings. Joan considers the animals to be long lasting characters and friends. She prefers to shoe them in many formats and make each one available to as many people as possible. Her collection includes framed and unframed prints, greeting cards, mouse pads, bookmarks, magnets and photos. Joan was a Featured Artist at Art on Main in December, 2006. Visit her web site at www.pikaworks.com for the whole story.