My subject matter, inspired by daily life, news stories, history, politics and my own vivid dreams, features a mix of humans with other animal characters playing parts of equal importance and often switching roles. I want to put the observer in a place where they are made to consider things that may never have occurred to them.

Stylistic influences have been Medieval narrative art, and the cartoon-like storytelling styles of ancient India, Egypt and Mughal art. The depictions of everyday life by Japanese masters like Hokusai have also been an influence. Like them, and like the illustrators and cartoonists of the Golden Age, I want to tell my stories with the most economical yet expressive use of line, color and texture.

I work according to an underlying concept of Primal Laughter. For me, consciousness pervades everything, and in the back of my mind I'm always hearing a mighty voice shouting with laughter (or maybe that's just Tinnitus).

I attended Pratt Institute, but mainly I learned to paint by looking at books, observing my painter husband Jim Wood, going to museums and watching the world in the great school that is New York City. After we moved to Santa Fe in 1969, I was additionally inspired by the light, space and culture of New Mexico.