I have always loved to draw, and I minored in art at Caldwell College. Not until I retired from teaching English at Manasquan (NJ) High School, however, did I begin to devote a great deal of time to painting. For several years, I concentrated on realistic work in watercolor and pastel, specializing in portraits and shore scenes. I taught several classes in watercolor at the Manasquan Recreation building and sold work through the Thistledown Gallery in Spring Lake, NJ and other local galleries.

Nevertheless, I was always curious about abstraction, a part of art that seemed mysterious and even beyond my ken. When I began taking classes in Lyrical Abstract Expressionism with Georgette Pettit at the Guild of Creative Art in Shrewsbury, NJ, I immediately knew that I was going to learn from a master. My resulting work owes much to Georgette and to James Kent, her successor.