I'm Maggie, and I'm a painter based in Atlanta, Ga.

I started painting when I was about 4 years old. My mom said she knew I had talent when I brought her a little stick figure drawing and instead of delicately asking me, "What is this supposed to be, sweetie?" She knew 100% that it was a frog. I was the stick-figure-frog drawing master at only 4 yrs old, a title 4 yr old Picasso probably never received. In your face, Picasso.

I painted obsessively throughout my childhood, mostly to avoid socially awkward scenarios and later to avoid all sports. I found that I could forgo large intimidating crowds and meet people one-on-one, if I simply asked to draw them. It made me intensely study the human figure, and is still my favorite practice. Drawing from life was the best gift I could have given myself, because it created a catalog of human poses in my head and it made me work faster.

I was lucky enough to have the artist Carolyn Young Hisel as a family friend, and from 9-15 she took me under her wing and showed me what life as a working artist could be like. She made me believe I could have a career as a painter. All my romantic notions about living as an artist come from relaxing in her english garden and trying to draw the darting koi fish in the pond.

I went on to study at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and finished my painting degree at UGA's Lamar Dodd Art School. I've finally come full circle, sitting in my pajamas and drawing elaborate interpretations of frogs.