I am a Michigan native, but grew up in Indiana where I attended Ball State University. I lived in Cambridge Massachusetts for eight years in my twenties and belonged to the Boston Visual Artist’s Union. During those years I visited Italy, France and Great Britain. While living in Cambridge I took advantage of open life drawing studios to continue to study line and shape and at that time the figure. I moved to Michigan and have spent the majority of my life here. I began to paint still life paintings when I first set up a studio on a farm where I was living. I’ve been married to another artist, Bruce Thayer, for 25 years and we have a home with studio space in the Michigan countryside. I have followed in the steps of Contemporary realism. I enjoy the abstract nature of painting, and the quality of the paint itself. Objects carry on them potent bits of color, wear, memory, and character. I like to paint familiar objects in a non traditional setting to challenge myself to find visual ideas.