Hi
This is my story
My love affair with art began in childhood, tucked away in my bedroom at night with a sketchpad and colored pencils. I’d carefully tear pages from my mother’s Vogue magazines and recreate the elegant fashion models in my sketchbook before sleep. That quiet ritual became my sanctuary, and I never really stopped drawing.
The Journey
Art followed me through school, and eventually to college where I studied graphic design and later fashion design in college, immersing myself in composition, color theory, typography, and illustration. Those foundation classes—done entirely by hand in the pre-digital era—taught me to truly see. In my illustration classes, I discovered the power of shading and perspective, and the magic of pencils, charcoal, and grayscale markers.
When I switched to fashion design, I returned to my first love: drawing fashion models. Through countless hours of gesture drawing classes (my toddler daughter often napping on my desk beside me), I mastered the art of capturing movement and form. It was in those classes that I fell head over heels for art markers, creating finished illustrations on tracing paper that seemed to glow with color and life.
The Detour That Wasn’t
Life had other plans. When my husband was diagnosed with cancer, I stepped away from college to care for my family. Though I never returned to finish my degree, I’ve never regretted choosing love over credentials. And in a crazy twist, I found myself working as a professional belly dancer! Well, not so crazy as I did dance growing up (if you’re interested in my dance journey visit dancedusoleil.com). What started as a hobby turned into a dance career spanning over 20 years, and I’m still going strong. I fell in love with everything about it: the movement, the culture, the music, the sisterhood, and yes, those spectacular costumes.
Dance led me to teaching, then to opening my own studio, and eventually back to my design roots when the internet boom made websites essential. I taught myself web design, putting all that graphic design training to work, and later even completed a UX design course. Every creative skill I’d ever learned seemed to circle back and connect.
The Summer of Creativity
Recently, I returned to drawing through Adobe Fresco on my iPad. What started as simple pet portrait gifts for friends quickly reignited that childhood passion. I began drawing my own cats (because honestly, have you ever seen an ugly cat? They’re all beautiful!), then found myself drawn back to fashion illustration and this time around of course I’ve been drawing dancers!
A breakthrough came when I started pairing dancer illustrations with poetry from Rumi, creating my“Bellydancers X Rumi series. Something shifted in my work. It became more expressive, more mystical, more me. The art started flowing faster than I could capture it- a creative explosion that produced 21 finished pieces in one summer while I simultaneously choreographed my dance company for a major international convention.
What Drives My Art
I’m inspired by people. I see beauty everywhere and am inspired by the lines created by the beautiful dancers in my classes and dance company. I’m drawn to color, to emotion, to that powerful moment when someone is experiencing something transformative.
My work explores what I call “beauty in pain”—those moments of struggle that change us, that bring us closer to something greater than ourselves. It’s in those difficult times that we learn who we really are. I want my art to feel relatableand inspiring. I want my art to shout to the world: “You may not have it all figured out yet. That’s okay, keep going”.
Today
I create digital art using Adobe Fresco and Photoshop (and a little bit of Illustrator), however I’m beginning to experiment with mixed media. My subjects range from whimsical cats to elegant fashion figures to mystical dancers adorned with inspirational quotes. Each piece is an invitation to feel something- to see beauty, to find strength, to keep dancing through life.
I’m based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. When I’m not drawing you can find me hanging out with my family, dancing, doing Pilates and playing with my cats (and one Pomeranian)
2002 – 2000
ILLUSTRATOR
Brooklyn illustration
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