I have new life as an artist in Santa Fe. This follows childhood in Michigan, then Atlanta, Tampa, and New Orleans; college at Brown University; a long stretch near Boston as an educational researcher; starting a doctoral program and completing a master’s degree at Harvard; and, with the greatest happiness, marrying and being a mother.

I left my first career in 1996 and started painting with watercolors while joining my husband as he worked in Europe and Brazil. We came to Santa Fe in 2001. He continued traveling as a consultant, and I began a second career in galleries. I took lessons with Nancy Reyner in acrylic painting and began close observation of the remarkable skies of New Mexico.

I stayed in New Mexico after my husband passed away because the sky lifted my spirits. Now, as an artist, I try to do the same for others. I imagine them waking to a sunrise feeling hopeful, seeing promise in a rainbow, relaxing in sunset glow and wandering among clouds. My life as an artist includes marrying again and being a foster parent for children. I never expected or hoped for this, but it is good.