My Story

I got a BFA in Acting because I thought I’d spend the rest of my life on stage. Over the decades (yes, decades) I won nominations and awards for best actress, best show, best ensemble. I have talent and a strong work ethic and a desire to make people feel and think in ways in which they might be surprised. (curious?)

Plans don’t always follow the script….

As an actor, many know first hand, you have to pick up other jobs concurrent to performing to help pay for things like food, shelter, that kind of thing…which is nothing to sniff at because it ends up enriching the lives of the characters you present on stage and camera, or behind the mic!

So along the way, I’ve served food, tea, adult beverages; I’ve painted sets for stage and film; I work-traded at a couple of yoga studios; I’ve retailed, manufactured high end skin care and managed operations; I’ve been a full-time nanny…several times.

But the one constant I’ve had besides acting is art. I’ve drawn, painted, spent years in the darkroom…

I remember sitting on the couch in late evenings as a child playing drawing games with my father, an artist and self-taught graphic designer in the Revolutionary Era of computer graphics. My mother, a high school English teacher, taught me the art of empathy, and reverence for the written and spoken work, and we saw many plays together in my youth.

So my hand at making art naturally developed in the exploration of character and story.

My influences? I adore Brian Froud, Jim Henson, Alfonse Mucha, and Johannes Vermeer. I am drawn to the divas of the stage Patti LuPone and Bernadette Peters. Indie Video Games. Shakespeare! I love children’s theatre, and the questions kids ask after performances: how do you get the lights to make those shapes? Was it really snowing? Are you really Junie B?

Where performing has taught me to give of myself, making art has allowed me peace and introspection, an appreciation of the world I see.

After the pandemic, maybe a little before, I was suffering pure burnout. And crippling self doubt. Feelings of abandonment. At times, disgust at what I was seeing “behind the curtain” in auditioning and booking jobs (at this time mainly voiceover and on-camera stuff). It was chipping away at my forcefield of hope, leaving a rubble of my self, and I went through a period of existential crisis. If I am not acting, I’m not an actor, so what the heck am I??? It was a dark period (on the inside).

After a decision to make the move back East, my goals simplified towards care and balance. I had to detox from the constant “fight or flight” cortisol release my body and brain had accepted as normal. I focused on projects in my new house, nurturing routines that were healthy and deliberate; I nested into my partnership with my wonderful husband; I started making art with a purpose. AND I now had room for a studio! I had time and the need for Presence.

So I focused on the most challenging medium I could think of to work with: WATERCOLOR.

This all, here, is my practice. Home. Community. Family. Creation. Saint Pete is where I heal and rebuild.

This may sound like I’m oversharing. And maybe some people would prefer I say less - but there is definitely more to say.

So, I’ll leave it here to say in the way humans have been communicating for millennia, in the form of the visual. And for our vision-challenged friends, if you’d like me to describe the world and my work for you, I’d sing a song of appreciation of our natural world, the birds who’ve outlived the dinosaurs, the mysterious world of the oceans, and the loving eyes of our furry friends and pets.

Take a look around. Thanks for your time.