I have been an artist most of my life, my background is in photography but I have always been drawn to many different artistic mediums.

 

In 1986 after college, I started working as a photo assistant in a busy commercial photography studio in Washington state. In the four years that followed, I loaded thousands of rolls of celluloid film, spent hours in the darkroom mixing chemicals, and processing thousands of B/W prints and film. Later I moved on to production and studio management, married the love of my life Bob, who happened to be the studio owner and head photographer. Together in the years that followed, we developed other businesses all in the art industry and they all thrived.  Commercial photography, stock photography, and art licensing. We successfully transitioned from traditional photography to the digital age and I became skilled in Photoshop as well as computer graphics. 

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What I learned in all the years of working in the various art industries has brought me to the art I am loving today. Determined to transition from the computer to something where I could use my hands and without investing years of more training, I researched many different mediums. When I saw my first quilled piece, a spark ignited in my brain as it was so colorful, incredibly detailed, and amazingly versatile. As I researched this art form I discovered that it started as an ancient art form established in the Renaissance by French and Italian Nuns and Monks who used quilling to decorate book covers and religious items. They most commonly used strips of paper trimmed from gilded edges of books. I tried my first quilling piece and I was hooked! I became obsessed! As it turned out, I was pretty good at it. All the years of doing other types of artwork has lead me happily to this art form. My challenge was to take an ancient art form that has changed over the years and modernize it to fit the fine art markets of today.

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I lived in Mexico for a total of 15 years and traveled there for 15 more. I also lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico for almost ten years. The influence of Spanish and Mexican art and Mexican icons has dominated my artistic visions. I have a natural curiosity for how others live, think, work and worship. I am interested in how others differ from myself and how I can relate to those differences. I honor the time I lived in Mexico and Santa Fe, New Mexico, with the art I am creating today.  My artwork is a personal journey of discovery and education.

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My husband Bob and I moved to Georgia to be near our son Nicholas who grew up in Mexico and our beautiful new daughter-in-law CJ. They both work in the movie industry here in Atlanta. We are a family of visual artists.

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