Three of my grandparents were artists (a designer, a painter and a sculptor), while my mother, an occasional painter, instilled me with her love of art. 

I began teaching when there was an explosion of artists  making a living illustrating children’s books. I started collecting and immersing myself (and my children) with the best of the best. Picture book illustrations remained my focus during my teaching career and then as an early childhood librarian for 23 years. I also was an instructor of children’s literature at the university level, wrote about illustration in library journals and co-authored many books, including Worth a Thousand Words: An Annotated Guide to Picture Books for Older Readers (Libraries Unlimited, 1996). I was a member of the 2001 Caldecott Award Committee, selecting the most distinguished American picture book for children published that year.

In the 1990s I started studying drawing. After moving to Tucson, I took classes at the  Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Art Institute and earned a Nature Art Certificate. My work has been featured in several juried shows and I am the co-founder of the Starr Pass Art League.

I’ve been happily caught up in the world of Zentangle® art and am a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) who draws on the traditional 3.5”x3.5” tiles as well as on gourds, clayboards and other surfaces. As a CZT I can combine my love of art and the Zentangle Method with my Zen meditation experience and my decades of teaching all ages from babies to university students. I teach "Folded Paper Books" and Zentangle at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Art Institute and online Zentangle classes from my art studio.