About the Artist
My name is Derralynn McMaster (Derra) and I live in a small mountain town called Ruidoso in the great Southwestern area of New Mexico. We live in Historic Lincoln County New Mexico, home of all the Billy the Kid hideouts and shootouts.
I am a native born Texan who came to Ruidoso to marry my husband Terry. I have two children and my husband has three.
The youngest of these three boys will be 16 in September so we have all grown up some since this picture was made and our two daughters are missing from the picture. We have a dog named freckles and two cats one named cali and my beautiful black cat boo. We have lots of wildlife off the deck of our home such as hummingbirds, elk, mule deer and tons of wild turkeys. I must mention the squirrels, big fat stellar blue jays and numerous other birds who all eat more dog food than the dog.
I began painting with acrylics in 1989 and eventually took up oils in 2000. My beadwork came about because I couldn't find the type of jewelry that I had created in my own minds eye. In July of 2005 I started beading with the encouragement of Lacy, the creator of Lacy's Stiff Stuff out of Roswell New Mexico and the rest as they say is history. I entered my first beading contest with Fire Mountain Gems and took first place in the bone division three months after I started beading. I have recently found out some news about my Indian heritage. My Great, Great, Great Grandmother Mary Ann Poteet was a full blooded Cherokee. However on my Walker side of the family my new findings lie in the Chickasaw/ Choctaw areas of Southwestern Alabama and Mississippi. Art for me is a way to release all those marbles called ideas that are rolling around in my head and bringing them into a tangible form. I consider it an honor to have you view my work.
Gratefully,
derralynnps91art
Recently I created a notebook filled with Bio's to go with most all of my pieces of work. I like to call these lttle bio's love stories that list the inspiration and naming of the pieces...To me it was like writing a little book about each piece thus giving life to these various forms that I lovingly call beaded wearable art.
