My art and life have been an evolution of color and represents a rise out of darkness. Twenty-five years ago, after entering recovery for addiction, I discovered I was an artist while taking a 12-week course on creative recovery. My first art was collage - on bowling pins. A whole new world opened for me, and I knew I wanted to paint, explore texture, and experiment with putting bold, vibrant colors together.

My intuitive abstract paintings reflect my love of wild colors, my constant curiosity, playfulness and joyful spirit with a smidge of sassiness and irreverence to keep life interesting. I work in layers of oil paint mixed with cold wax building texture, history, and interest. Adding more layers, making marks and scratching into the paint until a composition emerges.

Teaching what I have learned became a passion as well. I have taught for years at the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology on the beautiful Oregon coast, at the Art Department in Salem, OR and many other locations around the Pacific Northwest. I am honored to show some of my work at Riversea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon and at Salem on the Edge in Salem, Oregon. Recently I was elected to the board of Astoria Visual Arts with a primary goal of developing workshops.

My art and classes are punctuated by layers of color, texture, history, and unpredictable combinations.