About

I can’t decide if my curiosity about decorative painting started when I took a surface design class in college or if it was the discovery of the book, Paint Magic by Jocasta Innes. 

I was always pulled toward color and design and so with my degree in Textiles and Clothing from UC Davis, I went out into the world and worked briefly for Jessica McClintock and then for a longer stint at Patagonia working in fabric quality and development. But I kept finding more books, like Recipes for Surfaces by Mindy Drucker and Pierre Finkelstein and Stenciling by Sandra Buckingham. I began dabbling with cutting my own stencils and using them on fabric. (My mom still uses the Christmas tree skirt I made with stenciled holly leaves.) I like to joke that stencils were my gateway drug to decorative painting!

After leaving Patagonia to travel through New Zealand, Australia and Thailand, I resolved to explore decorative painting more and met my first teacher, George Zaffle, at a UC Berkeley Extension class. George taught us about stenciling, gilding, wood graining, marbelizing, and glazing. My mind was blown. He also introduced me to the organization, SALI, or the Stencil Artisans League (now known as IDAL.org) where I went to annual conventions with renowned teachers and trade booths with amazing products, met with a local chapter monthly to meet my tribe, began to teach at the conventions and eventually served as its president.