Artist Bio: Carolyn Anne Anderson

"The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears." – John Vance Cheney, American Poet

One can see the soul of Carolyn Anne Anderson's characters dancing upon her canvas. Her ability to capture the whimsy and charm of her subjects, however, emerged out of her struggle to find her own health and healing after a rollover accident left her paralyzed from the waist down. It was her relationship with her four-legged companion, Tyler J. Worthington that ultimately inspired her art. Tyler, a black Labrador retriever, entered Anderson's life as a service dog to provide companionship and help regain independence, but a much deeper self-confidence also began to emerge.

Says Anderson, "Dogs have the incredible ability to teach us about love, acceptance, gratitude, and most of all, joy. As Tyler taught me these truths my world opened up in amazing ways. I was able to do things I never thought possible, including: playing on a national championship wheelchair basketball team, traveling the world, earning a couple of degrees, finding and marrying my soul mate, and giving birth to two children."

While pregnant with her son, Anderson was confined to prolonged bed rest and began sketching Tyler. These sketches emerged into a gratitude painting of Tyler and then to the painting of her friends' dogs. "The dog paintings, which began in 2005, were the beginning of an artistic part of my life I really didn't know existed." Her art has expanded beyond dogs into: nature, Tibetan flags, and even chickens in her "Pollos de Pueblo" series to highlight the quirky things she loves about the Tucson community.

Perhaps it is indeed true that "out of adversity, great things come." It certainly has for Carolyn Anne Anderson.