Prior to retiring to Rehoboth Beach, DE, I wrote grants and marketing materials for non-profit organizations. I also had always written poetry, at times quite successfully.  My publication credits include four books of poetry (“After the Barn Door Opened,” “Nosegay” and “Pinned to the Corkboard” by Pudding House Publications and “Stolen Joy” through Icarus Press), articles in the Business Monthly, Journal of Poetry Therapy, Writers’ Journal and Voices of Women, and over 100 poems in literary journals.

In 2016, I encountered a very severe writer’s block. (Yes, such things do exist!) In an effort to find a way to express myself, I began taking art lessons with Robert Howard in Great Cacapon, WV before moving to Rehoboth Beach in 2017. He introduced me to oil pastels. Since then, I’ve studied soft pastels with Nick Serratore in Milton and Jill Glassman in Berlin, MD.

I’ve exhibited in annual Members’ Exhibitions at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD and in Members’ Fine Art Exhibitions at the Rehoboth Art League (RAL). David Brinley, judge for the 2022 RAL exhibit, awarded my painting “Approaching Storm” the Faucett Okie Award for an emerging Delaware artist working in oil or pastel. A collection of my paintings “Scene on the Trail” hung in the RAL Members’ Gallery on the second floor of the Rehoboth Beach City Hall for the month of October 2023.  My paintings are primarily of landscapes I photograph while hiking in National, regional, and state parks. In particular, I like painting landscapes that can be seen only on foot.

In 2021, I began taking lessons in white-line woodcuts from Fred Dylla of Lewes, DE. This uniquely American artform began in Provincetown, MA by a group of women artists in 1916. As a member of the Delaware White-line Woodcut Guild, I’ve had some of my prints in the Guild’s exhibits at the Lewes Public Library and CAMP Rehoboth in Rehoboth Beach.