About the Artist

One of my favorite books I read when I was young was “The Agony and the Ecstasy”..... Little did I know, that title would pretty much describe most of my life.

I grew up in a very eclectic neighborhood in Southern California in the sixties and it had a tremendous influence on me creatively as a child. The sounds of Dylan, The Beatles, fluorescent posters, tie-dye tapestries and peace signs ..... (you get the picture). By the time I was five I was busting out huge Butterfly and Flower Power paintings on the kindergarten easels at Morningside Elementary. It was awesome. I was always inspired and knew I would be an artist. 

I got married young, it caused a lot of damage, but no regrets because I have my kids. By the time I was finally able to start Jr. College and study figure drawing, it didn’t last long. I ended up a single parent raising two children with no child support. It was unbelievable. I honestly can’t remember one day that wasn’t a horrendous struggle ..... Being an artist, hard enough. But single parent artist working as a waitress having to devote every minute to survival, definitely worse. Although I worked on my skills when I could it wasn’t enough. I was determined to figure something out.

One day it came to me. I realized there was a way! I would model for artists, get payed, and also have the opportunity to listen and learn from the best instructors out there. So that’s what I did. I worked mainly at The California Art Institute in West Lake for many great painters. Aaron Westerberg, Jeremy Lipking, the late Glenn Orbik and Neil Boyle to name a few. It was awesome, and just the beginning of my journey to developing my craft, and certainly not the end of hardship.

I’ve been chasing beauty my whole life, that butterfly when I was five..... A path followed brings growth, knowledge, and the understanding of why. Beauty possesses a projected quality and value. As you take it in it invariably pushes the meditations of the heart beyond a consideration of the thing itself and reflects a greater reality. A broader universal order. And for those who believe, a reflection of our Creator.

Beauty satisfies ..... Every struggle I wrestle with in every painting, in every drawing, is worth the humble attempt to reflect and bring others along, to consider those things in our world which are beautiful.