PERRYSBURG – Chloe Toon wants to share her love of art with others.

Toon graduated May 22 from Perrysburg High School.

She plans to attend Bowling Green State University to study art education.

“I really like seeing how it affects other people, too,” Toon said. “Everyone has their own creative process so it’s interesting to see how even little kids work it out to make their own little piece of art.

She said she has enjoyed art since she was little.

“It calms me down, it’s fun,” Toon said. “I just love art.”

Her goal is to become an art teacher.

“I want other people to feel how awesome art can be for them. It’s really inspiring,” she said.

“I know it’s not for everyone, but for the people that it is for, I want them to have a guide and I think I can really help people out with that.”

She was a teaching assistant in PHS’s ceramics class and was vice president of the art club and a member of book club.

Toon works at Create Art Studio and Workshop in downtown Perrysburg. She teaches crafts and drawing, including doodling and advanced classes for all age groups.

She posts her artwork on her Instagram account (@pinto_painter).

Toon has worked with watercolor and acrylic, but really likes charcoal and colored pencil.

She also does needle felting, which is the process of transforming wool into 3D objects.

When beginning a design, Toon starts with a pencil sketch in her sketch book, which she carries with her everywhere. Much of her work starts as a picture she uses for reference.

“Using a reference, some people think it’s cheating, but it’s not,” she said. “It helps you figure out where the lines are or anatomy.”

She said she likes the work of Vincent Van Gogh, specifically the colors he uses and his subjects.

“Art actually helped him a lot,” Toon said about Van Gogh’s art. “That’s one of the reasons I really like him, is because he had a lot of troubles, but he figured out a way to calm himself down.”

She said she has sold pieces of art and needle felt animal sculptures.

Toon also has done commission work, including a Dungeon and Dragons character, a bird for her neighbor and a 48-inch by 24-inch acrylic on canvas of Pike’s Peak.

She said she picked BGSU to continue her education for its high success rate for graduates to find employment after graduating.