I was a painter in nursery school but it went dormant for a long time, much to the chagrin of my mother. However, my life as an artist blossomed in high school with a scholarship through Scholastic Art awards. I made my way to the University of Michigan STAMPS school of Art and Design where my interests were many with graphic design, printmaking, fabric design, weaving, life drawing and ceramics. Ironically, I never took a painting class. My major was graphic design, art education and a minor in intaglio printmaking. I found graphic design offered me the best method to make a living.
I did not see myself as a graphic designer, but I was good at it and won many awards which let me live in NYC, Boston, Austin and Chicago. It was during this time I rediscovered painting. My studies included Irving Shapiro at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, The Art Student League of New York with Mario Cooper, solar-plate printmaking with Katherine Brimberry at FLATBED Gallery and Press in Austin, Texas, portrait studies with Marilyn Propp, oil painting with David Gista at the Evanston Art Center, Evanston IL and watercolor painting with Pomona Hollenbeck at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico.
A mentor is the painter Tom Christopher, known for his street scenes of New York City. His brush stroke and use of light make for extraordinary work. In addition I study the work of Lucien Freud, Winslow Homer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and John Singer Sargent.
I currently share what I have learned in life and art as a high school art teacher in the northern suburbs of Chicago.