Maggie Vandewalle was born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa. She attended the University of Iowa on an art scholarship where she worked towards a BFA in printmaking. After six years and still no graduation, she took a break and moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she began experimenting with watercolors. While working part-time at various jobs, she played around with different paints, papers and brushes until she found a combination that allowed her the creativity and control she was looking for. Maggie was fortunate to have grown up in a diverse physical environment, which included a forest, fields, a couple of creeks and a lake. She was fascinated with the trees, weeds, grasses, water and all the things that live in such places, especially the stuff that she knew was there, but that only came out if one had the patience to sit still, something she wasn't particularly good at. As a result of this fascination, she now feels compelled to paint all the things she knew were there but sometimes didn't see, and occasionally the things she knew weren't there but imagined might be. She currently resides in Tennessee, with her husband, son and several dogs and cats.