Connie Townsend is best known for her playful paintings of dogs and cats riding motorcycles, driving cars, and hanging out in coffee shops. She admits that her favorite response to the work is “your paintings make me happy.”

Born in Jackson, Tennessee in 1953. She demonstrated advanced art skill at an early age and remembers wanting to be a cartoonist in grade school. High school interest was in photographic realism in pencil drawings, and college was ceramics and abstract oil painting. She recalls that her parent’s enthusiasm for their hobbies left a greater impression on Connie than their careers. “Mom liked to oil paint and Dad liked to build things.”

In 1990 Townsend took a course in screen printing and opened her own business, “Outrageous TEES custom screen printing.” It was a perfect mix of physical and creative work. She started paying more attention to graphic design and visited local galleries regularly. This sparked a desire to get back to painting. Community College courses, and entry in a few local art shows where her works were well received, gave her the confidence to imagine living the life of an artist; culminating in becoming Blue Collar Art Works, known today as CR Townsend ART. These first paintings included her dog and her jeep. Connie lives and paints in Arizona surrounded by the rugged mountains in the Sedona area.