Tonya Crawford

Tonya was born into an Air Force family, growing up on bases from Idaho to Puerto Rico. When her father retired from the service they settled in Ohio, where she resides today.

Blessed with a mother who always encouraged her creativity, Tonya remembers carving mice from a bar of soap when she was six and making an entire winter village out of pipe cleaners at age nine. As she got older and entered the job market she created opportunities for herself and became Assistant Art Director at a very successful printing company by the age of 24. Tonya’s career lost steam as a better job presented itself—motherhood. She became a stay-at-home mom doing “art jobs” as they came up.

At the age of 40, Tonya began painting the things she loves—country settings and patriotic images. She marketed folk art paintings to several stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Today she lives on a horse farm with her husband and hero, Norman. She is extremely proud of her four children, Stephen, Callan, Ralf and Christian. “As I paint, I watch my children grow. Too soon they’ll be gone, this I know. The best gifts don’t come wrapped up with a bow.”