Watching her father draw inspired Charlotte New to try art for herself. "My father drew these wonderful cartoon characters," she said. He was encouraged to travel to California to try for a job with Walt Disney but opted to stay in Oklahoma to raise a family.

New always liked to draw but there were no art classes in the Vici school where she grew up. She received some encouragement in the sixth grade. "We had an art project, and mine was selected to put on the baseboard of the chalkboard so I was sure I was destined to be an artist," she said.

"However, I married very young, and we moved to Al...