LOCAL ARTIST STRIVES FOR EXCELLENCE

Ross spends over eight hours a day working here at her desk. "I don't know what a 40 hour week is," she says. She has has been an artist all her life, but has only lived in Jackson for the last three summers. Some of her art has been reproduced on greeting cards, stationery and has appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine.

Ross has been a hunter all her life, and she usually has what she catches stuffed and mounted. Just like the fox shown here, Ross proudly displays here mounts throughout her home.

Bronwen Ross is unique, as she'll be the fist to tell you.

She lives alone in Jackson. The unique part is that she has a barn in her back yard full of chickens, cats, and even a couple of goats.

Even some of the names she has picked for them are unique; Pitty Pat, Mr. Whiskers, Liliput and Lamb Chop. The most unique name of all, Herman Noodles, was the name of her cat that is "no longer with us." It was a car, however, not curiosity, that killed that cat.

Ross's home is unique as well. It's beautifully decorated with art and flowers, knick knacks carefully and thoughtfully placed just so.

That doesn't sound so unique, though, does it?

What is unique is that she has the mounts of animals she has hunted herself on almost every wall, including a bear that she killed when she was seventeen. That is undeniably unique.

But what makes her most unique is the fact that she's an artist.

A published book, "Signatures: An Artist Autograph Album" calls her an internationally renowned artist, which is certainly more impressive than just plain old artist.

It says that her artwork has been reproduced on greeting cards, stationery and limited edition prints and has been shown in Good Housekeeping magazine.

The article also uses words like "enchanting," "captivating" and "colorful."

The words were meant to describe her work, but they could certainly be used to describe the woman herself.

This is shown when she describes her favorite piece, which, by the way, doesn't exist yet.

"Usually, when you ask an artist what their favorite piece of work is," she says, sipping on her coffee, "it's the one they haven't started yet -- it's that next piece."

And while maybe she has achieved a certain degree of success, that doesn't seem too important to Bronwen Ross. She just loves being creative.

"When you're creative," Ross says, smiling, "you're taking nothing and creating something.

"Besides, being an artist is all I know. I don't know how not to be an artist."

Her art is that she paints, mostly with watercolor, pictures of animals that have taken on the characteristics of humans.

It's called anthropomorphic art, and it lets you pretend animals can do things humans can do.

In one painting a cat that wears glasses is standing on two legs in the rain, wearing a yellow raincoat and a rain hat.

In another, two extravagantly dressed pigs have just exchanged wedding vows and are off to spend their new lives together. The "groom" is wearing a top hat and holds a cane, the "bride" is wearing a wedding veil and holds a bouquet of flowers.

Bronwen Ross loves this kind of art because she loves animals, as people who have looked in her back yard obviously know already.

"I love painting animals more than people," Ross says. "I think people are boring."

Ross says that she does more than just paint animals, though.

"I try to portray an emotion," she says. "And it's hard with anthropomorphic art, to paint animals without distorting them and keeping them true to form."

There's more to her art than just the painting aspect.

In her work Ross calls herself an "unmerciful perfectionist."

"I'm never satisfied," Ross says. "I always find something wrong when the piece is finished."

Ross said that artists are very hard on themselves because she thinks they have an "inner dissatisfaction" and nothing they do will ever be good enough.

"It's happy work," Ross says, "but there's always this little part of me that thinks I could've done better."

Bronwen Ross is more than the sum of her art, though. She's lived all over the United States in such places as Atlanta, Indianapolis, New York and, most recently, Destin, Fla.

Having been all over you'd think she might get bored with the area, but she says she loves it here better than anyplace else she's live.

She is spending her third summer in Jackson and she's not planning on going anywhere.

"The rule of thumb here is that everybody is lovely," Ross says. "Everybody has strong ethical and moral standards and it's very family-oriented. I have never made such lovely friends in such a short time."

These things -- ethics, morality, and family -- are important to Ross. She calls herself a "devout Christian" and she has two children from an ill-fated marriage.

Ross says her art is her life and she draws her inspiration from her faith.

"My inspiration is God-given," Ross says. "I couldn't imagine where else these gifts would come from, if not from God."

While no one could argue that Bronwen Ross is unique, she is, in many ways, like any ordinary person.

She likes to sew, cook, read, and go to the movies. She gets up at 5 a.m. and goes to work painting at 7:30 sharp and works all day.

She likes going out with her friends and television, especially "Law and Order."

She also likes bottle feeding her goat. OK, maybe she's not so ordinary, but she says she's happy and that's got to count for something in this harsh old world.

Bronwen Ross smiles and says her world isn't harsh.

"It's pretend," she says. "And that's the greatest."