About

My early life was completely unconventional.  My aspirations were totally conventional, with the exception of my knowing from my earliest days, that I was an “artist” and that drawing and painting were an integral part of my life.  When I had to get a job in order to survive between marriages (i.e. being a kept woman), I used my drawing skills… I didn’t know how to do anything else.

 

I grew up in an era of: “GET A HUSBAND (for protection), KEEP AN IMMACULATE HOUSE (’cleanliness is next to Godliness’), HAVE CHILDREN (that’s what women are for), and NEVER, BUT NEVER LET YOURSELF GO (get dowdy).” A woman with talent might take up a hobby, but could not allow anyone in the family to be incovenienced by it.  So I have managed to fit my work in the spaces between my husband, children and housekeeping, and I still feel “avant garde” when I leave the bed unmade. As a woman painter who married, raised children, and kept the house (with all that it entails), I have found the most precious work-necessity to be continuity, and like most precious things, it is rare.

 

Discontinuity causes great problems for a painter, or any artist. If a pianist misses practice or if a ballet dancer doesn’t work out regularly, it is disastrous.  You can’t shut the factory down and expect to jump right back into production when you have a few moments to spare.  Interruptions and distractions are deadly. So, here is a portion of my life’s work that did get finished.

 

I hope you enjoy it.