I find myself in 2008 emerging back into the world of fine art after 25 years dedicated to children and family.

I was Missy Varner, budding artist, growing up in Claremore, Oklahoma.  I attended Claremore Junior College and then on to Tulsa University on art scholarships.

I then found myself needing to make a living and could find no occupation using my fine art skills that I was getting in a private school setting and so went into apprenticeship type jobs to learn graphic and commercial design skills.

It's always come in handy to know how to design logos and layout brochures and portfolios and those kinds of things for our family's business and now for my own Fine Art Studio.

I know I am blessed to yet again have a chance to try something new and exciting at a different phase of my life.   I have a studio and the time to paint and I'm not counting on every penny I make to feed my family.  That is a huge blessing!

I have been able to use my graphic and artistic abilities to promote our Women's Ministry program at my church and I've painted and auctioned off some paintings of Uganda's orphans to raise funds to run the Lulwanda Children's Home in Uganda that my church helped found.  That has given me tremendous fulfillment in using my talent for God's work.  After all He is the one who blessed me with this talent.

I met and married my husband, Gary Gates in Claremore while working at the Tulsa World and Tribune Newspaper as an artist then Art Director of "Western Promotions", a small cattle and horse publication and ad agency.  I displayed and sold artwork at an art gallery in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and did commissioned portraits during that time.

In 1986 we moved to Houston with a toddler and a newborn.  We found our oldest child; Sarah had mental retardation during our first year in Houston.  Raising a handicapped child was a new challenge for us.  When our daughter and son were 7 and 5 years old we started adopting children, eventually adopting 11 children in a ten year period.  Raising 13 children was another challenge for us, and still is quite often.

The youngest is now 13 and the oldest, Sarah, is now almost 26 years old.  They are now more able to spare some of my time to return to my artwork.  And I now have a studio that I can shut away from creative little fingers.  So...another new challenge for me.

I have plunged into oil and pastel painting as my favorite mediums.   Working with color is not easy after my favorite medium "bc" (before children) was graphite, high contrast black and white.  I had some training in oil painting in college when I attended Tulsa University but my major area of study was in printmaking.

I did my first pastel painting this summer on our camping vacation in Colorado.  I wanted to take something to work on but that would travel better than a wet oil painting and so bought my first set of soft pastels and nupastels and jumped in with both feet.  I love them.  Something about drawing yet still painting just makes me lay awake at night anxious to get back to work the next day.

The pastel painting of my gelding Tex when he was only a day old brings such sweet memories to me I can hardly bear to part with it.  I know it is the passion that creates my paintings that draws people to them.  I want to share my passion with people so I'm very excited that giclee printing is so available and of such high quality that I can now consider making prints of the paintings I really love  l so I can make them available to others at reasonable prices.

My passion in this part of my life has reverted to my passion from as early as I can remember - horses.  My earliest memory is at 3 years old, riding a summer camp horse that my Uncle kept through the winter at his home.  I still remember the warmth and sense of "being where I was supposed to be" on the wide back of that big paint gelding.  From that day on I was inseparable from my rocking horse or my "Thunderbolt and Flame and Johnny and Jane West"figures.  Just the  other day my mare, Little Bit nuzzled her face into my shoulder and her warm smell of horse gave me such a sense of comfort that nothing else can.  Those of you who love animals know that feeling.

I feel blessed to be able to merge my passion for horses and the relationship between people and their companion animals with my passion for drawing and painting to create beautiful heirloom portraits for others.  I love doing commisssion portraits of horses, pets and people and seeing the pleasure they bring to my clients.

If you would like to commission a portrait of one or more of your 'significant others' you can contact me on my "contact the artist"page to do so.