My first formal art education took place in an oil painting class offered through the city’s recreation department; I was ten and the rest of my classmates were all over fifty. Although my efforts were pretty awful, those women encouraged me to keep working. And so I did. I have made things ever since – from doll houses, tree forts and pottery to printmaking, fibre arts, painting in all media to retail merchandising and interior design. Pastel is the medium I’ve been using for the past six years.