About

I was born in Detroit and have lived in Kansas City most of my life. I became interested in art my freshman year at Hickman Mills High School when I took art as an elective. My teacher (Catherine Vesce) was amazing and she taught me to enjoy being creative and that if you work hard at something, you can be good at it. By the time I was a senoir, I had only art classes on my schedule. In addition to taking courses for high school students at the Kansas City Art Institute, I graduated at semester so I could work full time and save money to go to Paris. Seeing many of the Impressionists works in person that I had learned about (in my high school French class!) was life changing. I found that I love color and light and painting. I wanted to paint like Van Gogh and Monet using thick paint and as much color as I could fit on one canvas.

Once I was back in Kansas City, I started school and University of Missouri-Kansas City persuing a degree in Art and Design. My sophomore year, I went back to visit my high school art teacher that had influenced me so much. I spent the entire day there and realized that my passion was to become a teacher and to share my love of art with students the way she did. I transferred to University of Central Missouri and obtained my degree in Fine Arts and Education.

I loved teaching for 30 years! I started in Sedalia and retired in Lee's Summit School District. I quickly earned my graduate degree in art and most proudly, my National Board Certification in Teaching (2010). In addition to teaching art, I loved coaching cross-country and track as well as sponsering many different clubs.

Since being retired, I have been able to dive in with both feet and create art full time. Most of my inspiration comes from traveling. My husband loves to travel and we have been all over the world. We visit Europe twice a year and that is where I gather most of my inspiration.

When I am not painting, I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren and running marathons.