I grew up near Detroit, Michigan, and was the oldest of 5 children. As a child I was fascinated by birds and was one of those odd little kids that kept a notebook about my sightings of them since I was 8. I was always interested in drawing birds, other animals, and people. I went to art school at Eastern Michigan University, studying painting and printmaking, and earned a BFA in 1972. I became interested in printing books from etchings and fancied that it would help my career as an artist if I moved to the Bay Area, which I did in 1976. I continued painting and selling my work and also went to trade school to learn drafting, which I did along with painting when I wasn’t drafting. I got married in 1988 and my husband (a tile contractor) and I had 2 children. We lived in rural Middletown, CA. I stayed home with the children in a house he helped build (a mile down a rough dirt road in the middle of nowhere) . I painted in my spare time. We had an abundant garden and an abundance of wild birds. Sadly, my husband died in 2014. My children were grown. Three years later I met my current husband (who is also an artist) and we live in San Anselmo, CA where I continue to paint because I cannot “not” paint.