Born in Canada, I grew up in Boulder, Colorado and traveled the American west but have an urban sensibility and interest in abstract art after living in large cities like Los Angeles, New York, and London. I love to cook and spend a lot of time in our garden growing vegetables and making an oasis in our beautiful high desert landscape. I have been a printmaker, a book artist, and a student of art with degrees in Art History from Barnard College, and also from Croydon College of Art in Printmaking as well as Bookbinding. I currently combine elements of all these pursuits in my art. Word forms as image are the primary focus of my art. I use words to form marks and symbols, adding layers to create history and depth of imagery. The words are often abstract and illegible, relying on our intuitive connection with symbols to help them make sense. My marks are somewhat random, and often related to music, with layers of painted marks acting as layers of melody and rhythm.For the first part of a painting, I start with some handwriting and some words. I started out about 15 years ago using western letter forms, but those have become simplified or gone altogether and replaced by more universal forms. I find that Asian and Arabic forms are more flowing and contain more dance like motions, and can be abstracted very easily. I often use a brush backwards and up and down quite frequently.I have always been interested in graffiti, as well as Asian art and medieval manuscripts. I think that graffiti is especially important as a driver in new forms of abstract art. I think It is similar to the African music rhythms that influenced jazz and rock music in the last century.