How long have you been creating?

Seems like forever...I arranged my high school classes so that in my senior year I could be in the art room for four straight hours a day...that was heaven, and also the last time I did art purely for fun...Since then I've done graphic arts, trompe l'oeil painting on furniture, pottery, jewelry making and oil painting....I even painted dogs on tee shirts for a year to make money....and I've never regretted it...it may not be the fastest way to fame and fortune, but it sure beats waiting tables...

What is your media of choice?

I love painting with oils, it's very satisfying....but each time I'm exposed to a medium I've never tried before the old juices start flowing...so it's hard to stay with one thing

What are you motivations for creating?

Well, as I said, most of my life was spend making/trying to make a living doing art of some kind....but for pure pleasure, there's nothing like it....then of course there is the feedback when you've done something you're especially proud of....I always feel like I'm still the little girl running to her parents saying "look what I did, mom and dad!"

What other artists or movements inform your work?

I've always been drawn to Albrecht Durer and Vermeer's work....and other realists...the Pre Raphaelite movement was also a huge influence...as was the Photo Realist movement...but there were three people who influenced me the most and I consider them my mentors...Maury Hurt, Al Carroll and Bill Orr....three Central Florida artists who have been my mentors and friends since the early seventies

What do you find visually stimulating right now?

Right now I'm doing a series of small painting of wooden finials I've collected over the years...I'm painting them in shadows with a few bright highlights and love the depth and richness of this type of low key painting, as well as the challange of depicting varioius texture like wood and metal...

I'm also working with three dimensional polymer clay and moldmaking with cast resin to fashion various purse embellishments I've designed. I just can't seem to stay with one medium forever...I do love the variety of working in different mediums and techniques.

Read anything good lately?

I am embarrassed to say that I will read just about anything in print...my tastes range from pure trash to the classics...I just finished re readiing "Watership Down" by Richard Adams, one of my favorite books ever.

Tell us about some of your artistic goals for 2007.

I want to get my purseware business off the ground so I can spend more time painting

What would you like your fellow EBSQ artists and our collectors to know about you and/or your work?

I used to worry that I didn't stay with one medium/technique to the exclusion of all others, but over time I've realized that I'm ok with it...I've enjoyed all stages of my career...graphic art, fine crafts, tromple l'oeil, painting vintage toys, sculpting purse handles...it's all art and it's all fulfilling