When I was in Kindergarten we were asked to do a painting of the house we lived in. There I was, standing before a small easel, tempera paints and paintbrush ready to go. Soon after we were finished the teacher went around the room and commented on each students painting. She looked at my painting and said “I’ve never seen a polka-dot house!” I thought to my tiny five year old self, “Doesn’t she know these are bricks?” One day thirty-three years later a friend convinced me to take a painting class with her. I didn’t really want to go; I never painted, couldn’t draw, and was in awe of those who could. Then we painted an apple. It was like coming home; and painting has become a great passion. In just those few moments of painting my life pivoted in a direction I never dreamed. I paint and teach art for the sheer joy of it. I paint what moves me, and interpret the subject in the style that befits it; be it either a tightly rendered still life or a painterly landscape. I am intrigued by the complexity of abstract shapes and I am driven by color. I love the liquid of the medium, the familiar scent of freshly squeezed paint, the challenge of a blank canvas, and the bittersweet moment when a painting is finished. I am honored to be represented by the Row House Gallery in Milford Ohio.