"Create Something from Nothing"
I love that phase, and it has been a common thread in the fabric of my life--from practicing landscape architecture, to raising my children, playing harp, painting landscapes, designing and building houses with my architect husband, experimenting in the kitchen.
Creating something from nothing.
Doing something with a blank slate.
Where there was nothing, now there is something.
WRITING
For ten years I was a marketing director, writing ad copy for five disparate subsidiary companies--what I call my first sojourn into writing fiction! The world provides a constant stream of stories to be told, and I enjoy being the messenger of those that have found their way into my head. I write stories that will hopefully make a difference, change a mind, pose a question—and put forth creative solutions and realistic hope.
ART
To this day, the smell of linseed oil takes me right back to my childhood. My mother was a professional oil painter, and a musician; my father, a chemist and very creative gardener. My love of art and nature was planted in me from day one, and I've been fortunate to parlay that into a satisfying career in landscape architecture. I've had the good fortune to live in many beautiful settings in California, but my heart is happiest in the redwoods. So, when I’m standing in front of an empty canvas, I paint redwoods—as a tribute to them, and their quiet, steadfast patience.
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Wherever I have lived, I have planted three redwood trees. Some are now over 60 feet tall. But alas, in my current garden, there is no room to let a redwood be free. So I am content to look out to sea and watch what Mother Nature brings to shore, or displays in the sky.
When I'm not at my laptop writing down the myriad stories piling up in my head, you’ll find me walking the beach, hiking the hills behind our house with our golden retriever, camping in the woods or clanking around in the kitchen trying a new recipe.
I call the Central Coast of California my home. I am now deeply rooted here with my husband Garth, a wily cat and the aforementioned golden retriever, Chase. The natural beauty and imaginative vibe of this coastal town surrounds me, as do all the creative people who, like myself, have wandered to the coast and stopped at the water's edge. Life is good.
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Member: Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, SLO NightWriters, The Bookshelf Writers critique group