More about me
My parents were an interesting union of left brain (Dad’s focus on theoretical physics) and right brain (Mother’s love of fine arts, her father’s fine woodwork), so I grew up heavily influenced by both the rigor, precision, and order of the sciences as well as by a deep love of shapes, colors, and lines of the arts. Our family library was very rich in art, literature and science. My father was also a very talented painter, although he put it aside for most of his life in favor of his career in science. As an adult, I watched him paint during the years of his retirement.
I began drawing in my early childhood and began crafting in miniature in my adolescence. As a youth, I loved nothing better than to close myself in my room and draw or craft for hours on end. In college, the traditional art classes were utterly uninspiring to me and, indeed, turned me away from art education. During my adult working years, I enjoyed using my creative skills to make the occasional, small, hand-crafted gift for family and friends. Our mother taught my sister and me, at a young age, how to sew our own garments, though later on I only found time to use my sewing skills for mending.
Although I continued to pursue the occasional crafting, drawing. or sewing projects as an adult, I put them aside in favor of careers in computer programming and technology transfer. My late husband, a STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, Math) zealot, enthusiastically encouraged me in these careers. But, satisfying as they were at the time, they made little or no use of my artistic creativity.
Fortuitously, though, those technology-focused careers gave me an opportunity to live and work in France for half a year. Having learned basic cooking skills as a child, exposure to French gastronomie gave me an opportunity, once back in the U.S., to use my creativity in preparing lavish and exotic meals for friends.
Since retiring, in 2014, from Sandia Labs – an excellent, and very analytical, institution – my creative soul has again blossomed, and I am now joyously exploring different avenues of creativity. I am currently crafting with paper, fabric, thread, beads, and polymer clay, as well as creating culinary marvels for friends and family!
I am currently working within three collections; however, there are so many more inspirational paths to follow. I am thoroughly enjoying the journey. I hope you will enjoy your journey through my whimsy.
