History & Background

I spent my childhood growing up in New England. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I have three sisters, all of whom live in Massachusetts with their families. I on the other hand left New England, got married to another Bostonian and moved to upstate New York after college. My husband Courtney and I lived in Ithaca for ten years and had two daughters, Tara and Siobhan. Once Courtney finished graduate school and taught for awhile, we moved to Virginia. Courtney worked with the Environmental Protection Agency and I began my career at George Mason University; teaching as well as running the Admissions Office as Dean of Admissions. We were again fortunate enough to have a third child, our son Courtney Brendan. Family, graduate school and work pretty much summed up my life. My job required a lot of traveling and allowed me to see great places in the world. I was not much of a photographer but loved to remember beautiful places I had been, that then started me on the road to painting. “One of the best ways to share your memories and reflections is through artwork. It is truly your vision and your thoughts”.

By the time I retired after 27 years at GMU, I was ready to put thoughts and desires to paper; watercolor paper. We moved to Dewey Beach, Delaware and began our “next life” living at the beach; certainly a great place to paint and relax. I participated in many workshops, classes and studied with well known artists in Maine, Virginia, Delaware and many parts of Europe and Australia.

After rescuing a litter of kittens born under our deck, cat rescue became as important as art in my life. With some wonderful new friends who also loved animals, cats in particular, we opened a gallery “Dewey Beach Arts & Cats”. Since then I have taken my art on the road on an annual basis to Europe, mostly England and France. Many of my paintings are from places traveled and plein air exercises. I love to paint landscapes and buildings. While most of my work is in watercolor, I find great enjoyment with other mediums, i.e. acrylics, and pastels.

I would say my style is fairly loose and often times outside the box. I am a member of two co-op two galleries, Gallery One in Ocean View, Delaware and Cape Artists Gallery in Lewes, Delaware. I have work on display in galleries in Maine and Virginia and of course in Dewey and Rehoboth Beach.

Painting has allowed me to really see what I never really saw before, the beauty of color, shapes and space. I take on a lot of commissioned work which I find very satisfying.