Carol Taylor discovered her love for art in her classroom, where she helped her students find joy in making art, too. She was a teacher for 30 years, and after retiring from her long career in education, she followed a new passion: drawing and painting.

Inspired by the beauty of the high desert she grew up around, as well as by the majesty of nature found in other regions, Carol translates her sense of awe onto her canvas. She is particularly moved by the oneness of nature, and appreciating that through her art makes her feel closer to the Creator. 

Carol loves the challenge of both faithfully rendering her subjects in realism and distilling her paintings down into loose and expressive abstract. She is primarily a watercolor artist, but she regularly experiments with other media and styles, such as Zentangle. Carol’s love of vibrant color energized her to begin drawing Zentangle patterns over her watercolor paintings. In her artistic practice, she follows traditional Zentangle designs, but she also creates new designs of her own. For example, Carol has made original Zentangle patterns for her Nevada pieces, taking inspiration from mining, gaming, geographical features, Burning Man, Native American patterns, and more. 

Carol is a graduate of Ricks College (now Brigham Young University-Idaho) and the University of Nevada, Reno. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.