My first love was the written word and its power to paint pictures, to tell stories, to evoke emotion. So I became an English teacher at Elk Grove High School (1976-2009) to share that passion with others. In 1995 I had the opportunity to attend a summer institute at the Crocker Art Museum, learning to incorporate art into the curriculum to foster student creativity and to allow students to delve deeper into both literature and history. I taught students how to create poetry inspired by notable pieces of art, comic strips based on core novels, and papier-mache masks for character analysis. Later, I taught other teachers how to incorporate art into the English classroom at several CCCTE Conferences.

I have been fortunate in my retirement to discover a second love—watercolor—the medium I consider the poetry of the art world. I am inspired by its technical challenges, its beauty, its vibrancy, and its complexity. Painting pushes me beyond my expectations and allows me to see the world—and all of its possibilities—in a completely new way.

My work has been accepted to several shows at the Elk Grove Fine Arts Center, including All Creatures Great and Small, Wide-Open Spaces, Fired Art, Abstractly Speaking, Women in Art, and the Small Treasures Boutique. Although I continue to experiment with style and technique, I have discovered a passion for painting on alternate surfaces like book pages or vintage sheet music. I have also developed a love of creating semi-abstract compositions exploring social issues or working on commission to craft semi-abstract portraits melding the face of a person with a body representing his/her interests or passions.