Kay McKay was interviews at the 2021 Chalk it Up Arts Festival in Broken Arrow, OK.

JENKS — In October 2008, Jan McKay received the phone call every parent fears; her 14-year-old daughter was in a car accident. Stephanie McKay passed away the following day. Through tragedy, Jan McKay was able to transfer her daughter’s passion for art into her own. Now, she continually honors her daughter within every painting through a hidden image — a butterfly.

If you visit McKay’s booth at the annual Art on Main in downtown Jenks on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., make sure to carefully inspect each of her nature-inspired oil paintings.

Jan and Michael McKay’s backyard is strictly for the birds.

Bird feeders are arranged around the edge of the patio and along the perimeter fence, which itself is adorned with about a half-dozen birdhouses. The feeders are stocked with grains and nuts, seeds and suet, set up in clusters.

“I’d say we have about a dozen feeding stations,” Michael McKay said. “As to the number of individual feeders, I’d have to go and count. I’ll put it this way — birds aren’t going to go hungry around here.”

Since becoming a wildlife artist, I have wanted to experience these beautiful animals up close and personal. The trip I took was with “Gamewwatchers Safaris.” The safari was a photo safari which me exactly what I was looking for. The group I met with were photographers from all over. We traveled around Kenya in Range Rovers that had three rows of seats and only three people (plus the drivers), which was ideal for taking thousands of photos.

It is often said that a personal tragedy can change our life forever, but what we often fail to see is the positive side-effects. Jan McKay opened her business in 2010 , which was 2 years after the tragic accidental death of her daughter Stephanie. It was at this point that Jan decided to shift the focus of her career from Interior Design, to artist.