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Mom bought me a beautiful watercolor paint set when I was about 4 years old. I still remember painting with it for hours on the kitchen table. Then came the beloved 64-color Crayola box (with the built-in sharpener!). I loved all the colors! I will admit that I still have a box of the original colors. (btw - that chubby baby is me!)

In the years that followed, she bought me all sorts of arts and crafts sets – paint-by-numbers, candle-making, stained glass, embroidery, mosaic stone ash trays, macrame’, poster paint (well, the 60’s and 70’s were a bit hippy-dippy!). And my grandmother taught me to crochet, which I still do today. Then 4 years of art classes in high school.

And the next step, one would assume, would have been art school. Nope. Somehow, I ended up with a finance degree and 25 years in commercial real estate finance (creativity is not so much appreciated in banking…).

Still, I knew that I wanted to paint. The design that God put inside of me as an artist was still there. But the schedule in banking was not easy. I painted sporadically through the years, until my wonderful husband Joe said, “You know, you can paint. So just paint”. And a new life began!

I converted a bedroom into a small painting studio and started to paint. I entered various shows, won some recognition, sold some paintings, and had pieces in 2 galleries, in Ft Lauderdale and Charleston SC. I won Signature Artist in a large show and the local Lexus dealer even wrapped an SUV with the winning painting! Fun!

Joe and I moved to Sarasota, FL and I set up a nicer studio. Then we moved my mom to the area as well. We also bought a summer home in Colorado in the mountains, so more moving. (Now we are selling that house and taking the summer/fall show to North Carolina). Seems like too much moving, not much painting! Then – a big setback in May 2019. I fell and shattered both wrists! I was horrified at the thought of never painting again! (a bit over-dramatic, as it turned out). I had a great trauma surgeon, and a wonderful therapist and my wrists are back to normal! And last, but not least, I have a wonderful husband who was my round-the-clock caregiver!