I was born in 1962 and grew up in Studio City, California and started painting seriously when I was 16.  While in high school, I won a Bank of America Award for a painting of a construction worker in pink. 

I developed an individual major at UC Santa Cruz entitled, The Arts and Social Action.  Through this major, I created art exhibits and experiences in which participants were encouraged to interact with the art.  For instance, in one installation viewers wore masks as they walked through a three-dimensional painting. 

This interactive process continues with my current work.  I paint directly from life, often in public places.   When painting dancescapes, I often dance before and during the painting process.  This also can be true when I paint other moving bodies such as water and plants in the wind.

I have created interactive works at First Night and Art on the Avenues. I have been an artist in residence with The Fields Project on two occasions in which I lived on farms in Ogle County, Illinois sharing my art process with the farmers as I painted scenes from their lives.

My work has been published in American Artist and in the Santa Cruz Cultural Council Calendar for 2007-2008. I was awarded a partial fellowship to Vermont Studio Center where I was artist in residence in 2005.  My work has been exhibited and honored in many venues including The Triton Museum in Santa Clara, Lana Santorelli Gallery in NYC (Chelsea), The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, the Santa Cruz Art League, The Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Arts and Atelier Gallery.  I am a Santa Cruz County Open Studios participant.