Elizabeth was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1960. After raising three daughters, she and her husband moved from the Texas Hill Country to a 100 year old bungalow in downtown Boerne. Upon this move, Nolen responded to an unknown, yet reverberating energy to paint in 2014.

Happenstance led Elizabeth to her first painting lesson with Julianna Poldi in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Little did she know how intuitive the process would be. Unbeknownst to Nolen, that morning-long lesson was a continuation of her creative journey. To paint was to play, to be a child again, vulnerable without expectation or judgment, and that was scary, yet freeing for her. When Elizabeth paints, she remembers artist and friend, Cletus Behlman’s sage advice, ‘‘relax, there are no rules.” Realizing creative expression honors her soul and brings joy to life, it became and remains Elizabeth’s prayer.

She approaches painting automatically by responding to an urge. A feeling. It does not matter what she does, as long as she does it automatically. A way of being, it makes the invisible visible and gives form to the formless by de-emphasizing the role of her conscious mind so that her subconscious or unconscious can emerge. She values doing over thinking, using her body for tapping into a different level of intelligence.

When filled with emotion, Elizabeth writes poetry or is often found sauntering in salvage yards. They are a playground of infinite possibility and inspiration. She does not know what she will find until she sees it. She designs and assembles disparate elements that can only become a three-dimensional sculpture by the unexpected.

Drawing from life and memory, Elizabeth invites the viewer to consider the unnamed beyond words. She seeks to arouse the obscure, to arouse love: the force that connects us all. Through her work she hopes to invite and encourage others to explore their own creative lives and to honor the essence of being human.

The process and language told through her creative expression is alive. It is God’s love. She hopes her renderings give other’s as much pleasure as God gives her as gift because creativity is our true nature ‘without rules.’