the artist

I began life on a cattle ranch in the mid-west, and my love of colour was born in the expansive skies and endless horizons of my youth.

Since my childhood, drawing anything in front of me, my art has always been more than play. It has been both my release and my refuge in challenging times, and my way of reaching out to people.

STUDIES It was was my ticket away from South Dakota birthplace when I left to begin formal art training in Eugene Oregon. I went on to study in Oslo, Norway, in the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and San Jose and Emily Carr in Vancouver. Since then I have had exhibitions at many shows over 45 years, with retrospectives in 1988 and 2009.

A LIFE LINE As a young single mother of two, my life was shattered by a drunk driver. For years my art was my anchor and my lifeline as I found way back to full health, despite the doctors' expectations.

CURRENTLY I am working in a new style that is a pure celebration, resolving a wide polarity of colours, values and strokes in a bold and balanced design that I find exciting.

SERENITY Perhaps my biggest 'work' is my island home, Serenity by the Sea, a retreat centre I designed and built 20 years ago with my life-partner Chidakash. Its innovative and environmentally sensitive design has been a gift to many who come here in retreat.