I was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, lived for many years in Los Angeles, and in 2002, moved to Lake Arrowhead, California, with my husband and 5 cats.

I received my art training from the University of New Orleans and also from Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles, where I earned a BA in Fine and Studio Arts. I was awarded several art scholarships, as well as receiving the Eugene Escallier Foreign Study Award, a grant to conduct independent research in places where Western Civilization was born. In the work-study program, I spent 3 years photographing, mounting, and archiving thousands of slides which were used in Art History lectures and classes at Loyola Marymount University.

I owned a record store for 20 years in Los Angeles, until I closed it and moved to Lake Arrowhead. Relocating to Lake Arrowhead has profoundly influenced the subject matter of my paintings. I had traditionally painted the female figure and commissioned portraits, almost exclusively. Once I was settled, I found myself compelled to try and capture the wonder of the mountain environment. Landscapes, which had never figured in my work previously, began to flow forth from my brush. Soon, there were bears, then fairies, and even squirrels!

Oil on canvas is my preferred medium, but I also craft 3-dimensional “found art” multimedia pieces. I like to indulge in watercolors and pencil sketching. I have spent the past 20 years as a graphic designer and desktop publisher (Pixieco Press). I am also a website designer

After painting, my second love is photography. The project I cherish the most is my photography book, published in 1998; “Consecrated Ground: Funerary Art of New Orleans”. This book attempts to chronicle nine particular cemeteries, each located in New Orleans, La. The work within this volume reveals a collection of artistic memorials ranging the entire spectrum, from massive, costly monuments spiking heavenwards, to the most humble, handmade remembrances. The graves depicted are in various states of maintenance, from the pristine to the totally collapsed and desecrated. These opposites evidence what many consider uniquely characteristic of New Orleans.

I look forward to my life in this wonderful community, and to meeting the many artists who also reside here. We are all living in a beautiful and enriching environment, and I am sure it will continue to generate many, many beautiful expressions of art.