My love of art started early . I can remember sitting in church as a child in Buffalo, NY , being captivated by the music but mostly by the colors... the statues, the flowers, the light through stained glass windows.

    After college, I made my living on the road playing music and it was a chance encounter with a little piece of handpainted porcelain at a flea market that started me on my current artistic path. It was love at first sight!

     I began to collect pieces of handpainted porcelain , both antique and contemporary pieces painted by some local Buffalo porcelain artists. As my collection began to reach critical mass, my husband Rex, uttered the words he has since come to regret :" Why don't you learn how to do this yourself? It'd be a lot cheaper." Talk about famous last words! ( grin!)

Boskie the cat working on a piece

      After several months of lessons on the basics of overglaze painting, I worked mostly on my own but since moving to the suburbs of Nashville , TN in 1988 , I've had the opportunity to study with some of the best in the china painting world such as Jane Marcks,San Do and the flame-haired Goddess of porcelain, Nancy Benedetti.

    I have also had the opportunity to study watercolor with Gail McDaniel and acrylics with Joan Lawler.

     I have been teaching china painting seminars all across the US since the late 70's ..I also have done seminars in England, Germany and Australia.

     In 1996, I founded a website ,along with Betty Gerstner , for the purpose of teaching and promoting overglaze via the internet. For more information on PPIO ( Porcelain Painters International Online) , go to http://www.ppio.com
    PPIO ( Porcelain Painters International Online ) now offers a free mailing list , lots of technical information on the website (ppio.com ), links to other porcelain related websites as well as a Member's Only area which features online lessons.

     I live in Hendersonville , TN with my lap steel guitar builder husband, Rex ( WeNeedTheMoneyGuitars.com ) and our menagerie: Boskie ( who is not only a talented chinapainter , guitarist and cat-about-town but also works for NASA when he is not doing normal kitty things like eating and napping) , Moof , Jasmine,the twins Nina and Pu, Marv the psycho kitty , Biggie ,Louie the chihuahua and Spike.