For her Christmas Card Lane painting, Heather Baumbach created a tribute to birds in her backyard. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Showing nature’s beauty, Heather Baumbach painted a tribute to the birds in her backyard for her contribution to Christmas Card Lane.

“My initial interest in art and design goes all the way back to when I was in high school,” Baumbach said. She volunteered with community theater, particularly stage management and theatrical lighting.

“The driving force was my Mom taking me to New York to see Broadway shows and window displays at Lord & Taylor and Macy’s around the holidays. Pieces of my artistic puzzle came together in college, where I majored in costume design and earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts,” Baumbach said.

For Christmas Card Lane, Baumbach designed a traditional card, inspired by her love of vintage Christmas card illustrations. “I enjoy the challenge of capturing images of beauty from everyday life,” she said. “The asymmetry of birds feeding just outside my kitchen window is something I enjoy daily, which led me to make those birds the stars of my card design.”

Baumbach used chalk pastel and acrylic in 15 layers of paint. “I worked, little by little, for about a month, one layer at a time,” she said.

“Christmas is a very special and sacred holiday for my family and me. I wanted to be able to share that with our neighbors and community,” Baumbach said. “It’s really important to me to be an active part of integrating the arts into the life of our local community.”

She and husband John met in college and have lived in Madison for 10 years. He is from the Huntsville area. “My hometown of Allentown, Pa. still holds many childhood memories for me … the same type of memories we’re having with our children in Madison,” she said.

The Baumbachs children are Sydney, 13, a student at Discovery Middle School and Marjorie, 11, and Jack, 9, who attend Horizon Elementary School.

Her business’ name is Heather Baumbach Art. For more information, email hbaumbach@bellsouth.net visit heatherbaumbachart.com or Facebook/heatherbaumbachart.