Warm sun, blue skies, and the sound of crashing waves. These are my earliest impressions of life.

Until the age of five I was raised in a cute two bedroom apartment on the boardwalk of Mission Beach, San Diego. My biggest decision each day was to either grab my sand pail and shovel and climb over the seawall, or grab my chalk and use the boardwalk and adjoining sidewalks as my canvas.

At five my family bought their first home. It was a mile and a half up the beach and one and a half blocks from Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach. Life was very different in the 1950’s; my grandmother often walked me, lunch bag in hand to the beach. Collecting me later in the day. Splashing, swimming, belly boarding and ultimately surfing, were central to my life. Though I would like to assure the reader I embraced art during this time, it wasn't until high school that art took on a more formal part of my life.

While attending San Diego State University, I double-majored in art and psychology. The University offered a robust arts program, one that I enjoyed for four years. It was during this time that I began to question why I had this interest in art. Only one artist of renown is in my family, Aldro Hibbard, a very well-known 20th century East Coast painter. That is the only genetic hook upon which I can hang my hat.

For the next three decades, I thrived in a marvelously split life. Working as a school psychologist afforded me time to paint and travel during holidays and summers. Psychology, and specifically my work with children, help shape my art. Children taught me; to be quiet, to observe, to interpret and then reinterpret what they communicate, both with words and behavior. These same skills are central to landscape, portrait, or figurative painting. I’ve found that first impressions can often be misleading. This is why plen-aire painting holds great value to me. In plein-air, you allow thoughts to calm, to observe subtle beauty around you and enable your eye and heart to capture the magic.

During this time I was gifted with a most remarkable son, who is a skilled graphic designer in San Diego. Married, he and his wife attended to a french bulldog, appropriately named "Bolt."  

I've never lived in a place where I could not walk to the beach. However, for the past two years, during temperate weather, I had the good fortune to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. During those 16 months I found the light and the people of Santa Fe intoxicating. I was also able to created a substantial body of work.