I wrote and illustrated my first full-length story, “Lov is Flafey and Spots” when I was five years old. I continued to write through-out my life but I didn’t really do any art again until I was in my mid-twenties, when I learned that art and crafts were excellent conduits for emotional healing. I was naturally attracted to paper arts and simple watercolor paintings, and once I began combining words and art together as an art form, I was in heaven. I found the process of making words visual, and making art narrative, to be a very liberating and dynamic form of artistic expression. What excited me even more was creating an opportunity for collaborations within a creative community. More and more, I am learning how much we long for community, how much it fuels us as we dance with the earth's tilt and embrace all that is possible in art and life.

Thus, in the Fall of 2002, I had the dot of an idea to start Artella (named for "art" and "telling"), in an effort to ignite a communal spirit among artists, writers, and creative individuals.

I try to engage in some kind of art-making almost every day, and I love trying new media, techniques, and styles (”jack of all trades, master of FUN!”) However, combining words and art is always my first love! I also love collaborating with friends, partners, and groups to create art, and keep myself inspired by participating in lots of ongoing swaps, round robins, and other projects.

I recently moved to the Big Island of Hawaii, where I live with my husband Tony, who has become my partner in work as well as life, as he now helps run Artella. In just a few months, the Island has inspired an entirely new kind of art to splash from my imagination, as it is just impossible not to see new colors and feel new rhythms of life here. I am grateful for this experience and look forward to bringing more of Hawaii’s beautiful energy into Artella.


At Right: BrainDance, 2007. This is pretty much how my mind works.

Things essential to my art: the color orange, poetic novels, singing loudly, daily naps, the love of a good man, and hero worship of Mary Poppins. And I recently got hooked on the the DVDs of the series ALIAS and Sydney Bristow has became my inspiration as the fearless, resourceful, never- give-up archetype.

And if you are reading this, please know how I grateful I am to you, for being part of Artella’s circle!