I attended the Rhode Island School of Design, and graduated with average grades and a degree in Illustration.  Then I moved to a warmer climate--Maryland, then Virginia, then back to Maryland.  Like many young adults, I moved a lot--mostly in search of cheaper lodgings since I was the epitome of the starving artist.  Luckily, I made some good friends who not only bought my art when they could, they also fed me.  Sushi.

I worked for a year in a Gallery/Framing Shop in Alexandria, VA.  I rather quickly tired of framing certificates, tacky posters, and other artists' work, so I quit and tried freelance illustration.  I made ends meet first by  working in a friend's comic shop, then by cleaning houses.  I am VERY good at cleaning houses.  Mine is NOT a prime example of my capabilities.

I joined a Medieval Re-enactment group, Markland, and met my husband there.  We went from the Middle Ages, through the English Civil War, to the American Revolution, then went back and settled on Imperial Rome.  It is my husband's passion and my occasional hobby.  During this time we only moved a couple times and bought a little, run-down house with a great yard for my garden--MY passion.  Our wonderful daughter arrived just in time for our first spring in our own house.  Armloads of Daffodils on her birthday now signify a perfect spring to me.

I began having serious problems with my hands about two years after I finished art school, and I eventually had to stop cleaning houses and limit my art production.  After nine years of hand debility (mis-diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome), and twelve years of chronic back pain, I was desperate enough to go to a chiropractor.  He Gave Me My Life Back.  He immediately recognized the cause of my symptoms as mis-aligned vertebrae pressing on nerves.  My hands were better with only one treatment;  full recovery from years of living with my body literally twisted out of shape is taking years, but very much worth the effort of a specialized daily exercise program and regular visits to my chiropractor.  There are a few things I must not do, like shoveling snow (oh, darn), but there are many things I can do that ten years ago I could not have dared dream of.  Like making Dragon Marbles. And Miniature Paperweights with little fishies in them.  And Teeny Inkwells with feathers from my parakeet for quills.   Who knows what I'll try next.

Life is good.