While in high school, Elder, Cincinnati, Ohio and college, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, I contributed as an artist to high school publications and yearbooks.  At the University of Washington, I majored in Business Administration, and also took courses in art and design.  I did post-graduate work at the University of Cincinnati, and at the Jepson Art Institute and Cal State, in Los Angeles, California.  I worked as an artist for the American Laundry Machinery Mfg. Co., in Cincinnati, and for Motor Trends magazine in Los Angeles.  Later, I designed fabrics and fashion yardage for men and women's clothing in my studio on Wilshire Blvd., also in Los Angeles.  Some of my work is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

                In addition to being a commercial artist, I was also a fine artist, working in serigraph, better known as silk screen printing.  I have exhibited my work nationally.  With my knowledge of art and design, and the ability to put a design in repeat, it was an easy transfer from fabric to miniature wallpapers.  I have done a great deal of research in authentic wallpapers of the past, so most are actually miniaturized copies of wallpapers from various periods such as Colonial, Federal, Victorian, and Craftsman.  I actually started in miniatures before NAME was organized, creating furniture for my daughter, Heidi, who had a collection of Troll Dolls.  Some of the first miniatures I made were pieces of furniture.  Jackie Andrews, Bob VonFliss and Judy Berman are some of the people who have them, these pieces are unsigned.