Biography: A Life of Art and Meditation

In the course of my life I have held two parallel interests which I find myself returning to again and again. One is art, and the other is meditation. As a child I loved to paint and draw because of the quiet place I found within myself while so engaged. Many years later I rediscovered that same internal peace when learning to meditate.

As I learned more about meditation I began to paint outdoors where nature seemed to reflect the stillness I sought. At the same time I found I could bring some of the discipline of my practice into my painting. My work reflects a glimmer of serenity and peace found in the quiet beauty of nature.

Born on Staten Island, the most rural borough of New York City I lived in the NY metropolitan area all my life until 1997 when my husband, Akers, and I moved to Gainesville so he could work with endangered butterflies at UF.

I began formal study of art at Philadelphia College of Art while still in High School and continued with three years of printmaking and oil painting at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. While working as a personnel manager in a busy Health Food business I studied and taught meditation and a path for for self-awareness with The Arica Institute. I continued my interest in art, studying watercolor painting and figure drawing at the Art Students League and at Cooper Union in NYC and attending workshops with respected watercolor painters.

I presently teach watercolor painting in private classes and workshops in Gainesville, Florida.

My work is shown locally at the Gainesville Artisan's Guild Gallery, the Ice House Gallery and the Barefoot Artist Gallery. I participate in individual and group shows with the Gainesville Fine Art Association, The Arts Alliance of North Florida, Plein Air Florida, The Southern Artists League, The Tallahassee Watercolor Society and the Florida Watercolor Society. My paintings, prints and hand made art cards are available at several local businesses.