Following a long recovery, Roush tested every pigment in search of a medium that wouldn't harm her. Eventually, she settled on egg tempera and experienced some commercial success with her art. However, while the medium didn't physically distress her, Roush ultimately found egg tempera too restrictive and repetitive for her desired style.

After discovering a brand of watercolor that used honey as a binder instead of harmful preservatives, as well as a new Arches watercolor paper with safe sizing, Roush began again, teaching herself the techniques and idiosyncrasies of watercolor painting.

"I just love the quality of watercolor," she said, "the range of softness to the brilliant and intense color I can get."

Recently, Roush's watercolor, "Grebe on Purple," was juried into the 2007 traveling exhibit, "Birds in Art," at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wis. (She was also in the show in 1998 and 2002.)

The watercolor is an exquisitely rendered, visually delicate piece, and a fine representative sample of the caliber of her work.

"I painted 12 versions of that piece and we chose, I think, the seventh version," said Roush. "I'd get about halfway done and I'd say, 'Nope. I don't like it,' and I'd start another one."

Roush prefers painting from life. "It allows me a more direct connection to my subject," she said. "However, many of my paintings of birds require time in the studio, composing and repeated study of the bird itself by painting and photographing in the field."

Although reliant on photography, Roush is not interested in a detailed, photographic look. "I prefer attempting to capture the essence and spirit of my subject in a more intimate, painterly fashion."

Her favorite subject is shorebirds, and she tries to spend as much time as possible at the Great Salt Lake. Recently, she's thought about moving to California so she can more easily paint the birds that so intrigue her.

Ultimately, she would like to do what Jonsson does: "Go out and do my paintings all from life, because you can tell. They're not photographic images; you can feel the bird there. That's my ultimate goal."

For Roush, it is a conscious decision to continue painting birds. Despite what Roush calls the derogatory label of "wildlife artist" applied nearly universally to any artist painting God's creatures, she believes it is important to paint the birds.

"In our society today," she said, "we need to rethink how we organize our lives and what we care about."

Roush has exhibited her work at Union Station in Ogden, the Kimball Art Center in Park City and the Mockingbird Gallery in Bend, Ore. She is seeking gallery representation in Utah.

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