Bio

I was the artistic kid who liked to draw and was always making things like board games, paper dolls, treasure maps and picture books. As a teenager, I made the bulletin boards for my first-grade school teacher Mom. I grew up on Long Island, New York the youngest of four children but at eighteen I left to go to college in Ohio and never came back. I graduated with a degree in secondary education and thought I was going to be a public school teacher like my Mom but life had other plans. I soon met my husband, got married, and became the mother of two sons. My husband's corporate career took us to live in eight different states in eighteen years and while I dabbled in different creative jobs over those years, I didn't teach full time or really know who I was until his job took us to live in the south of France. 

I couldn't work there so I took a plein air watercolor class and started painting passionately. I studied French and watercolor techniques from books and painted the beautiful French landscape that surrounded me. I began selling my paintings to friends and eventually to neighbors. I discovered that I truly was an artist. When we returned to the States, we moved from Massachusetts to Virginia where I took workshops from national teachers and became a signature member of the Virginia Watercolor Society. I joined two co-op galleries where I sold my work and found a community of fellow artists. I was a happy artist… until I wasn’t.

I felt like something was missing from my paintings. Where was the ME, my unique voice? I started searching for more authentic ways to paint. I felt like I was painting from the outside in but I wanted was to paint from the inside out. I had no idea how to do that. I started experimenting with different media. I took acrylic and printmaking classes. I played with mixed media where there are no rules and I focused on learning how the elements and principles of design really worked. I began a morning practice of journaling and meditation and observed my personal preferences and tendencies.  I gave myself permission to play and slowly I discovered my authentic visual voice came from the this inner place of play.  It's been an ever expanding journey of becoming for which I am eternally grateful. 

I now live in Massachusetts for the second time, this time to Plymouth where I am exploring and expanding my visual voice by painting from the inside out.