Biography and Credentials

I graduated from the University of Dayton, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and a Major in Visual Communication Design with a Concentration in Illustration in 1993. Upon graduating, I became a Freelance Illustrator in the Rochester, NY area working for art studios, design firms and advertising agencies. During this time I produced spot illustrations, corporate identity (logos), storyboards, poster art, and other design work. I also worked in my own studio creating self-promotional pieces, commissioned portraits, and graphic design.

I became interested in expanding my work to 3-dimensional creations around 1996, and combined my love of antiques with illustration. I began collecting old, worn furniture and “found items” and then painted every surface to make a piece of three-dimensional art that was both attractive and functional. Some examples are chairs, trunks, rolling pins, boxes, and glass jars. I sold many of these one-of-a-kind items at local festivals (such as the Park Avenue Art Festival) and at shops and boutiques in the area (such as the Renaissance Goode II Shop in Canandaigua, NY and Possibilities in Bushnell’s Basin, NY), and the gift shop at Heron Hill Winery on Keuka Lake.

Though I enjoy producing pieces for retail, I also found that people purchasing my work are interested in custom designs. I have always strived to produce one-of-a-kind and unique art, in any medium. Custom work is a challenge, and at the same time so much more satisfying than a “cookie-cutter” approach. My business has now expanded to include murals. Obviously the major difference being scale. Also, it is highly customized to fit with an individuals’ taste in interior design.

Some interesting projects I have done:

• Restored a pattern of wallpaper in an 18th century historic home. It would have been costly and time-consuming to replace the wallpaper after a water spot ruined the design. The wallpaper was original to the house, and would have to be custom ordered. I was hired to paint over the paper to disguise the stain and continue the intricate design.
• Participated in Home-a-Rama and also The Decorator’s Showcase at Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua, NY. I hand-painted a rose pattern design in the Music Room in the Carriage House at Sonnenberg and worked beside some of the area’s most distinguished interior designers.
• Restored a faded and chipped wooden artifact that a traveler had brought back from her vacation to Africa. It was a mirror surrounded by a wide wooden frame, depicting a religious painting. I was able to photograph what remained of the painting, strip the piece, and repaint it from scratch, piecing the picture together with the help of the photos and some historical research.
• Painted dozens of murals and motifs in various homes and businesses, both interior and exterior. These include restaurants, gift shops, and doctor’s offices. One unique decorating solution was to paint a mural on a curved wall, where it would have been impossible to have hung traditional framed art.
• I have painted floors and ceilings, doorways and soffits. Almost any surface can be painted!

Other notable credits include:

• Having illustrations published in two recent issues of Life in the Finger Lakes magazine. Also, a feature article in the magazine's Off the Easel column in the Fall of 2007.
• Being asked by Corning Museum of Glass to create an illustration of the museum’s exterior. This was then used to create an ornament design that produced by hand using the “reverse painted” technique. The museum sold the ornament in their gift shop during the Holiday Season, and set aside a weekend where I was available to sign the ornaments that visitors purchased.

I am fully insured. References are available upon request. Please feel free to view some samples of my work on this web site. Please contact me if you have any questions about my work or my background.

Other Interests

Professionally, I am an artist. However, I believe that it also describes my vocation in life. I love all creative things, and I think living an "art-full" life does not mean just painting everyday (although that would be heaven to me!). Creativity sometimes manifests itself in the way one solves problems, changes ones mood, influences others, or finds peace in ones soul. I am a very tactile person and love fibers, yarn, fabric, paper, wire, old rusty stuff, and all kinds of items that have character and history. I am the kind of person my husband hates to take to a museum (or craft store, or antique shop or flea market...!). Any way you look at it, the times in life when I am most happy is when I'm creating something, whether it's for "work" or leisure. Besides painting and drawing, I love knitting, quilting, sewing, scrapbooking, stamping and collaging. I live in an old country house which I love to decorate. I also love to read, garden, cook and bake. I am a mom and a wife, and my family is everything to me.