Joan Beauregard, the collage artist who created the BEAUREGARD cards, was born in De Pere, Wisconsin, in the United States, in 1920. She first became interested in the arts through theatre, but after her marriage and the birth of her two sons, her interests changed and she went on to study painting and drawing.
Joan lived in the New York City area and studied at the Art Students League in New York. Her studio was near the Museum of Modern Art and her frequent visits to the museum contributed greatly to her art education. Later, after she married for a second time (to John David Ellis, the creator of the ECCO deck) Joan began living part-time in Maine. Still later, she spent her summers and winters in Maine and went to southern Germany during the spring and autumn.
Joan worked in a variety of media, including collage, though most of her works were oil paintings. She traveled in Italy and her oil paintings reflect the influence of the early Italian painters. While in Germany, she also began to work with acrylic paint.
