I started folk art painting while living in the Deep South. Southern folk artists like Mose T. who painted on what I call “reckless mediums” (old wood, and fallen house shingles) inspired me. This style, free and spontaneous, was complimentary to the way I had been taught to think about art:that art came from the purest, truest and most spontaneous part of ourselves.
So on the eve of my fortieth birthday I was sitting in a dental chair in Montgomery, Alabama and I hated what they were doing to me. The equipment was outdated and the whole thing made me think that I couldn’t possibly turn forty betraying my inner voice. So, I leapt out of the dental chair and went home and started painting. And while I did in fact return to a better dentist, I never stopped painting.
I am from the San Francisco Bay area. I graduated from Mills College in Oakland, California. I married a naval aviator and traveled extensively. In our travels I have been inspired to create. My creations are in notable collections all over the world. I have exhibited pieces at the National Museum for Women In The Arts, I had a solo show at the Children’s Museum of Virginia, and I am a member of the Torpedo Factory art center in the Washington DC area. Even former First Lady Laura Bush has received a Sissy painting for a birthday gift.