I grew up with a strong love for animals. For years I wanted to become a veterinarian. I was always in charge of doctoring the family pets. I had a special affection for horses. At eleven, my dreams came true when my parents bought me my first horse. All animals, but especially my horse Tony, were the main subjects for my drawings, paintings, and photographs.

Art became an obsession. It was my way to express who I was and how I felt. I wanted to experiment with everything: copper enameling, wood working, photography, oil painting, drawing with pen and ink. I studied art throughout high school, and entered the art curriculum at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, the department didn’t meet my needs artistically. So, I changed directions and studied Anthropology, Philosophy, History, and Literature.

After college, for the next ten years, the working world offered me a variety of jobs. I started as a museum interpreter, became a secretary, went to accounting, payroll, and finally personnel manager. But I never gave up my interest in art. In 1979, I took six months off work to study with the well-known photographers, David Wing and Duncan McCosker, who were teaching at a local college. Then in 1980 I used my illustration and photography skills to start my own graphics art business, and have been self-employed ever since.

Around that time, I began working for several teachers at a local junior college. At first, I did typing, illustrations, and course paperwork for them. That led to larger projects and eventually to lab packets for biology and botany classes. In the early 1990’s, a biology instructor and I collaborated on the first of four self-published biology lab books. I was the illustrator, editor, and layout designer. We set up a publishing business. I relied on my office skills to run the book business providing service to colleges and universities around the United States. You will still find me there today managing the publishing company. Having this job allows me the financial and personal freedom to practice my first true love—art.

Most recently, I have been interested in primitive designs, specifically those found in Aboriginal, American Indian, and South American art. I like to incorporate different elements from these styles in my acrylic paintings, illustrations, and sculptures. My uncle, CR Schiefer, gave up painting and other art hobbies to become a full-time stone carver. His love is Pre-Columbian art. I couldn’t resist the invitation to study with him and learn how to carve stone.

In 1999, I moved to the village of Fallbrook. The town is full of artists, writers, and musicians, and dedicates itself to becoming a growing center for the arts. They have a foundry in town that conducts classes in the lost-wax method of bronze casting. Since my arrival, I have taken their classes. Now some of my ideas and designs are being expressed in bronze.

My childhood interest in photography was never forgotten. For a while, I had a black and white darkroom where I did my own printing: portraits, landscape, and abstract-art photographs. My pictures have become increasingly unique over the last ten years. I like to photograph “abstract paintings” that are created by nature. My neighbors are never surprised to see me wandering around old buildings that are striped with peeling paint, or parking lots where weeds have sprouted through the crumbling asphalt, or fields where tree branches trace shadow patterns across the dirt. I photograph what most people never see.

I also have other interests. Monthly, you might find me beating my handmade hoop drum at Fallbrook’s Drum Circles. Although I may not have inherited my father’s or grandfather’s musical skills, it is probable that my passion for drumming comes from a genetic predisposition to make a wonderful noise. I love to dance anytime a band plays a good song, whether it’s rock-and-roll or rhythm-and-blues. Music fills my whole body with the energy of being alive.

I write. I am most fascinated by folk tales and poetry. I belong to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Their monthly meetings at USD in San Diego educate and inform us about the children’s book publishing industry. Soon, I hope to see my name, as author, on the book jacket of a classic children’s story.

What else? This website. Every artist needs a day-job to support their artistic work. And every artist must promote their art to sell it, thereby reducing the necessity of spending quite so much time at their day-job. This website is my way of sharing with you what I have been inspired to create.

If you fall in love with what you see, and want it for your own, contact me. We will talk. My e-mail address is: slschiefer@yahoo.com.

My life feels like a series of concentric circles connecting my past to the present and into tomorrow. I believe that it does not matter so much what a person does, but rather that they make a choice from their heart, and then thoroughly enjoy the ride that follows. Hopefully, my circle of choices has been following the lessons that nature wants to teach me. And every day, as the earth rotates to meet the sun, I make the wish that I will awaken to new opportunities.