Born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1965, my family moved to Los Angeles when I was 5 years old and then a few years later to the Bay Area in California. In 1989 I moved to the Sierra Nevada Mountain foothills of Northern California and have been here ever since.
I was a solitary and sensitive child, preferring to be alone with my books, art, animals and music. I would draw and paint incessantly and dream about a world more gentle and beautiful. I always felt like an outsider-- that I didn't really fit in anywhere. Making art became my refuge from the harsh realities, unjustness, and stressors of life that seemed to encroach faster than I liked as I grew into my teenage years.
During college in the mid-1980's, I had the good fortune to take several art classes taught by the late Eileen Gilbert-Hill. She was very active in the Bay Area art scene. She taught me to see that there were many ways to render a subject...painting wasn't just about faithfully drawing what I saw in front of me--- true creativity begins with imagination and a vision. Anyone can copy... but it takes courage and a fire in the soul to "imagine" and inject a blank canvas with memory, feelings, logic, and intelligence.
In addition to painting, I am also an avid photographer. I built my own darkroom when I was 15 years old-- back in the days of analog film and SLR cameras. Today I shoot mainly in digital, but I maintain a full darkroom set up in my studio.
I have a penchant for gourmet vegan cooking, veterinary and human medicine, English literature, biology and the natural sciences, reading, organic gardening, creating and listening to music, vintage drum restoration, and traveling.
I am an advocate for animal welfare and I frequently donate my art to various animal rights organizations across the United States for their silent auctions. Currently, I have three doggos that I absolutely adore!
