My love and inspiration
 for sewing and design began when my grandmother showed me the way to start making beautiful garments when I was about twelve. 
I continued to teach myself many sewing techniques from continual experimentation with both classical styles and more contemporary patterns. 

As a silk painter working with all types of silk, I create a diverse range of clothing, using a variety of shapes and silhouettes, utilizing the best properties each silk offers.  Working with bright colors, or pastels, color brings life to the piece, whether it is patterned, ombred, or solid.  Each garment has its own unique voice.  My love and inspiration for sewing and design began when my grandmother showed me the way to start making beautiful garments when I was about twelve.  I continued to teach myself many sewing techniques from continual experimentation with both classical styles and more contemporary patterns.  After fashion design school in Atlanta, Georgia, I worked as sample hand and/or designer at various boutiques:  Garma’s Leather, for accessories and clothing designers Sheila Hahn and Tom Smith at Noelle, and at Lace Works, creating contemporary fashions from antique lace, all located in Atlanta.  After relocating to Melbourne, Australia in 1983, I worked as assistant to a well known  Australian designer.

During my first silk painting class at Batik Oetoro in Sydney in 1990, I  fell in love with the medium, and sold many of my first original designs in Sydney before moving to Lahaina, Maui, where my hand painted creations were appreciated by both locals and tourists alike at the weekly arts & crafts shows.   Upon returning to the mainland, I continued studying art at Arizona State University, later taking silk painting classes with Jan Janus and Susan Moyer, both well known silk painters and authors.  I’ve taken classes in rozome, the Japanese art form using wax resist with  Shoukoh Kobayashi, and later with Betsy Sterling Benjamin, and more recently, a class in design with Carter Smith.