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.