I was born in New Jersey and grew up on the East Coast. I’ve been drawing since I was young. I loved art classes in high school and went on to majored in illustration at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts. After moving to Atlanta, Georgia, I started working for a printer and became an art director and graphic designer at various companies. I also freelanced, and after about a year I started my own graphic design company. While in Atlanta, I met and married my second husband, and we had a daughter. We have lived in Waterloo, Belgium, and Ashburn, Virginia. When our daughter got married we moved to Utah to be closer to them and then followed them to Elko when their first daughter was born.

I have painted on and off throughout my life. I started working with watercolors, then in oils and I am now working in acrylics. One of the things that I love about being in Elko County and in the West in general is the wide open spaces. I love being able to see the horizon in 360 degrees, the big blue sky arching overhead. Although some people may think of a desert landscape as mostly shades of brown, once you really look, you see that it actually presents a myriad of colors: reds, browns, purples, greens, blues, pinks, yellows, golds and everything in subtle shades and tints.

You will see with some of my earlier works that I tend to be very realistic. My current goal is to loosen up my style so that I capture what these vistas evoke in me: a wonder for the beauty that surrounds me. I find that as I live in a place, I get to know the changing landscape. Shadows and light interplay across the scene constantly transforming it with the changing seasons. As a painter, this interplay evokes a response: a desire to capture what I see.

Having had an education in illustration, I learned that an illustrator’s job is to depict what the subject is in a clear and concise way in order to help to tell the story. As a painter, I feel that my work should be more of an expression of what I experience, rather than just what I see. I remember going to museums in New York City and looking at art by many famous artists. Some of it really excited me and made me feel a connection. Some of it confused me or left me ambivalent. I think that is what happens when art is viewed: it evokes a response. Art should, if it’s successful, cause an interaction between the viewer and the piece that is being viewed. The person either loves it, hates it, or is intrigued by it, but something happens between the viewer and the art. It is my hope that I continue to evolve as an artist and that my work will bring enjoyment to those who view it.