Artist Biography

 Drawing captured my attention from the time I picked up my first pencil, crayon, paper, and coloring book. At the age of 10, I attended Mrs. Thompson’s Saturday art classes until I began college. From a liberal arts college, I transferred to study Architecture at the University of Cincinnati, then to the University of Arizona, Tucson, graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture Degree. During my college years, I found time within my architecture curriculum to include classes in painting, sculpture, and fashion drawing. 

While practicing architecture and working in the construction industry, I also painted commissioned portraits. When my husband’s work took the family to live in Togo, West Africa and to Romania, Eastern Europe, I painted exclusively.

Leaving the career that brought me to Maryland, I opened my studio, Faces ‘n Places Art Studio, in historic Havre de Grace, Maryland. Whether I am working from life on a portrait, setting up a still-life in the studio, or taking my easel and canvas out to paint in "Plein Air", I enjoy the process of improving my craft. 

To broaden my skills, I have taken workshops with nationally and internationally acclaimed portrait artists and attended classes at the Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia, and The Art Students League in New York City.  To improve my “Plein Air” landscape painting, I have participated in workshops with many internationally and nationally awarded master painters. Classes at the Chesapeake Fine Art Studio in Stevensville, Maryland, and association with other artists at that studio have broadened my knowledge of painting.

I have competed and won awards for portraiture in artist exhibitions and landscapes in "Plein Air" events. My paintings are in private collections in the US and Europe. My artist memberships include the Portrait Society of America, Maryland Pastel Society, Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association, and the Working Artist Forum in Easton, Maryland.