My Story

I grew up in a small town on the banks of the Pamlico River in Eastern North Carolina where Camellias bloom in winter. Along with this picture in my mind, one of my first memories is enjoying the feel of scratching a pin into our wood windowsills. This is my first awareness that we can respond to indescribable sensations by making beautiful marks with our hands.

My mother fanned this flame giving me an art box filled with colorful paint. My father suggested pursuing art in college. They understood this passion before I.

Fearing an arts education meant abandoning “my voice,” I didn’t major in art. With undergraduate degrees from Saint Mary’s College and UNC-CH, and a graduate degree from UVA, I worked in broadcast sales then taught kindergarten. I chose to stay home when our first daughter was born.

Life as expected. Then it changed. Not an ending but a new beginning.

Within a span of twenty-four months, my father died of cancer and our two daughters were born. In two more years I admitted I was powerless over the alcohol I’d become accustomed to gloss bouts of depression and anxiety. God’s love gave me hope, transforming my chaos and confusion into promise and renewal. This grace gives me aliveness: the freedom to love, forgive, and create.

It was during this season that my desire to draw and paint reawakened, and the events of 9/11 galvanized my commitment to a painting practice. Today I’m grateful for relationships with those who own my work, as well as galleries, art consultants, and decorators. My work is found in private and public collections throughout the US. Living in Raleigh with my husband and blessed with our daughters’ growing families, I paint out of my Gateway Studio.