In 1998, I took a class for watercolor painting, thinking "this could be fun!". What it was, was frustrating. At the time I was a silversmith, designing, manufacturing and selling my jewelry nationally through catalogs and retail stores. When my instructor learned of my occupation, he assumed painting should come naturally but paper and paint bear little similarity to silver.Determined to tame the "beast" (watercolors), I persevered. After many failed attempts I finally started to see some satisfying results. In 2002, I closed my jewelry business and sat down to paint full time.I never thought of myself as an "artist", until recently. Looking back, I guess I have always been involved in some sort of artistic endeavor. When I was young I drew constantly, then pottery called my name. In my late teens, I discovered textiles and was hired as a dressmaker, sewing a designers couture fashion samples. In 1985, I left Southern California, where I was born and raised, for Flagstaff Arizona to become an apprentice silversmith, making sterling buttons. After a couple of years, I started my own jewelry line and traveled throughout Arizona selling it at the craft fairs until I went wholesale.In 1995, we, my daughter, Mo and I left Arizona and moved to the Northwest. Etna California, is where we now call home, population 781. Etna is located in a beautiful, very rural, mountain valley just south of the Oregon border.My inspiration comes from my environment, imagined or real. Almost every morning after my cup and a half of coffee I will sit down to paint, always thinking ahead to the next piece. Subjects and colors constantly swirl around in my head.Primarily, at this stage in my life I am a watercolorist, but distractions do happen. Occasionally, I teeter back toward the jewelry but always with my watercolor images involved in the packaging. Just recently, I have discovered Paper Mache, very fun!
