A creative life . . .
A life lived seeing, feeling, loving, laughing, painting, drawing, listening, crying, touching, dancing, working, dreaming, moving, making . . . .
Art entered my life at the beginning. My father was a photographer, played and composed music, painted, and built furniture. He died a hero's death from a jet crash in the navy in '65. My mother was a Navy nurse and also a creative. Art was my form of communicating. I didn't start to talk until I was 4. At the time when I was born in '59 they didn't know what dyslexia was. Because of this "learning disability" I excelled in art and sports, not math and reading. Luckily I came from a family that was artistic and supported me in my creative pursuits.
After Graduating Cum Laude from the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Minor in Dance I worked as graphic artist Tower Records doing displays and graphics. Wanting to see some of what I studied in Art History, I left Tower Records after five years to travel through Europe for a couple of months. Over the years I have learned many modalities of the healing arts. I have owned and operated my own holistic health practitioner business for over twenty years in San Diego. Also I did some academic work in architecture and was employed as an architectural model builder by Architectural Precision Models and by Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architectures to help work on the J. Paul Getty Garden working model of Robert Irwin.
I have won a few local artistic competitions in different modalities of art and have had a handful of exhibits of my artwork. There is a piece of my art on public display in the Little Italy section of San Diego. Two publications have used my images to support the written word, one online - www.lyricaworks.com and one in print - The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Fall 2009. In February 2012 I was featured in Lifestyles section of San Diego Home and Gardens for a art piece I did for Extraordinary Desserts in conjunction with the annual Chalk La Strada.
My exploration into film production in the late 80's started at San Diego Community College. I wrote, directed and edited a short black and white super 16mm film - Twice Baked. I fell in love with the art of filmmaking. Since 2007 I have completed three screenplays and continue working on others. And I've taken a few film directing workshop.
On a more personal note - since 1984, I have cared for my mother who survived a cerebral aneurysm. Over the years of her many operations I have been her main caregiver, support and cheerleader. In 2009 she broke her femur and never fully recovered. She passed away May 2010. Over three decades of being a parent to a parent gave me the opportunity to learn patience, how to navigate and push throughout the health care system, and how to listen to my intuition. I feel my mom lasted and thrived as long as she did in part to her feistiness and faith and in part to my determination, awareness and sensitivity to details. And I have survived and thrived because of the support of my family and community of close friends who are also my creative champions that support me along on my life’s path. And I have to mention my beloved pets (ever since I was born I've always have had a cat and a dog in my life) for if it wasn't for them some days when the heaviness of life seemed too much they could lift my spirit enough for me to keep going.
Through all these experiences and the many beings who have touched me, I have I have learned about love, life, and myself. I believe these qualities serve me well in my creative life.
