I was born in 1962 and lived on 16 acres of woods with my parents outside the sleepy New England town of Winchendon, Massachusetts. I was an only child and lived in the woods with parents that had turned their backs on the world. My mom came from a weird irish family and my dad was a Russian defector. Both of them were trying to create a new  life for themselves while trying to forget the crueler world they had known. Growing up, I spent a lot of time drawing, coloring and walking in the woods, making up stories of adventure, travelling gypsy stories, Lost in Space, Cowboys and Indians (where the Indians won).

Generally I lived in a child's fantasy world where much of my interaction was with nature and the animals around me. My mom was a portrait painter and a draftsman and from an early age encouraged me to color and draw. When I was 3 or 4 I remember watching a PBS series about Vangogh's and Rembrant's life with my mother and thinking that I would never choose to be an artist, it was too hard and unrewarding. Vangogh and Rembrant's life was proof of that. After thinking about my career though, I wondered what would I be good at and decided to be an actress that wore red. My dad and I would take long walks in the woods and he would point out the beauty of the nature around me and the value of silence, just hearing the wind through the trees. Those early years in the woods were magical, although a little lonely, my parents and I had our own kingdom, just for a little while.

When I was 7 my father hurt his back at work very badly and things began to change. My mother went back to work, and after a few years and 2 back operations, the doctor told my father to move to a warmer climate, Florida or Arizona. They chose Florida. It was a big adjustment for me. I think looking back, I fell into a depression because the climate and people were so different. I retreated more into my imagination and kept drawing and painting. My father died in a unrelated accident when I was 14 and it was then I learned that you had to live your life to it's full potential each day, there was no sense in waiting for retirement. It was at this time that I decided to become an artist, because it was the one consistent thing in my life, something that never left me and I got extra credit at school which helped me pass those difficult math classes. I graduated from Ringling School of Art and Design in 1983 and had good intentions to move to New York and work as an Illustrator. 2 things kept me in Florida however, my boyfriend and my mother who was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. So I opted for graphic design, moved to Orlando, Florida, with my mother, where my boyfriend (later to become my husband) lived. My mom passed away in 1985, after difficult battle with cancer. I spent the next 10 years working for myself as a freelance designer, working at various advertising agencies, and corporations doing graphics.

At 30 I decided to have an early mid-life crisis and re-evaluated my entire life. I started really painting and took lessons from a great contemporary French Fauvist artist, Marco Bronzini. He gave me confidence and fine-tuned the skills I had been developing  all my life. I quit graphics  and became a full-time painter, doing art shows all around the country. Currently, I have a studio at McRae Art Studios in Winter Park, Florida, a beloved 5 year old daughter, the same artist husband with a great talent to make you laugh and 1 cat & a dog. You may find me painting from time to time at Café Tú Tú Tango in Orlando, at an outdoor art show or a gallery show, of course, as much as a toddler's time will permit. My latest accomplishments are either on this web site or on my professional resumé, available on request.