Mountains Are My Favorite Obs-Tackles

Before becoming a full-time artist, I worked at World Wildlife Fund, where I built a career translating conservation science into vibrant stories that helped people feel more connected to the natural world we all depend on. My lifelong love of the outdoors has taken me to trails around the world, including the Swiss Alps, where the first Little Dude sketches appeared in my notebook as tiny black-and-white figures wandering through very big landscapes.

What began as a private sketchbook practice slowly became my visual language for awe. I filled more than 30 sketchbooks with Little Dude’s adventures, using the simple human silhouette to capture the strange relief of feeling small in wild places. When a season of illness sidelined me from chasing trails, painting became a way to stay close to the outdoors while I healed. What first felt like an identity-altering loss slowly became a deeper invitation to look to nature as a model for healing, resilience and renewal.

Little Dude paintings combine an expressive ink figure with bold, textured swipes of acrylic paint, often layered with sand to create a sense of groundedness. The white space invites focus and complete immersion in the present moment. The color carries the movement of rock, water, sky and trail. To me, that small silhouette is a reminder of our human scale within something much larger.

My work has appeared in The Dodo, Women’s Health and Men’s Journal, and now reaches outdoorsy souls around the world. Through Little Dude, I hope to offer a playful tribute to awe and the outdoor spaces that help us come home to ourselves.