Since she could pick up a crayon, Teri Crockett has been creating art — drawings, paintings, even photographs.

However, between raising her three children, nurturing her passion for music and working part-time at Nash’s Organic Produce, Crockett said she never found the time or energy to display her work — until now.

“My family and friends know me as an artist, but I’ve never put it out there before,” she said, sitting in her Sequim home surrounded by 15 of the 23 pieces she’s displaying this weekend. “My intuition told me, ‘It’s the time now.’”

Most of Crockett’s pieces are acrylic paintings. She said she doesn’t have one particular item she most enjoys; among her subjects are animals, landscapes and portraits. Crockett said for the past few years she has been doing mainly floral pieces.

“I’m not set in my ways,” Crockett explained. “I’m doing (floral paintings) now because I’m enjoying it, but I may get bored with it and move on to something else.”

Just in case, Crockett totes a camera with her wherever she goes and snaps photos of anything she finds interesting. On a trip through southern Utah and northern Arizona, Crockett took several pictures of junk cars, framing them in a way that made them look almost beautiful. Crockett also walks around Sequim with camera in hand to take photos of gardens for her floral paintings. She prefers to get up-close shots and often crops them further before painting them, getting just a snippet of a bouquet.

Crockett said she finds her best pictures in the most unusual places. On a recent trip to a dahlia farm, she took hundreds of photographs and was ready to return home when she suddenly looked down at her feet.

“They’d thrown all the old bouquets on the ground as mulch,” said Crockett, who began to snap pictures. “I liked that even better.”

It is that unexpected shot that Crockett craves. She has taken photographs that she turns into paintings everywhere from Africa to the Grand Canyon, but she said she enjoys painting because she can manipulate the piece.

For an undersea scene, Crockett said she used magazine pictures to create the exact scene she wanted. For a desert scene, she used her Arizona memories as well as pictures she and others had taken.

“This place doesn’t exist,” she said of the desert painting. “But it’s realistic.”

Crockett said she is more excited than nervous about her first exhibit, mainly because she feels prepared.

“I just kind of picked up (painting) when I could over the years and now I have a lot to show,” she said. “I’m very thrilled to get the chance.”

Showing her stuff

Who: Sequim painter Teri Crockett

What: Crockett’s first exhibit, showcasing 23 pieces she has created over the past decade

When: Noon-8 p.m. July 18–20

Where: Gallery-Studio, 856 Carlsborg Road, Suite E (across from Carlsborg Post Office)

More information: Contact Crockett at 681-5148 or TeriCrockett@yahoo.com.