I have always been creative and imaginative but I didn't fit into the mold of what I thought an artist is.  I don't do
landascapes or portraits or even beautiful flowers, I paint ladies. Not portraits of ladies but my vision of ladies.
You might notice that other than the eyes being eyecatching (no pun intended)that they aren't smiling and in most cases are on the sad or mysterious side.  
I am often asked to paint them with smiles and I have tried but it just doesn't work. They lose the look and they look like any other painting not my paintings.  Let's face it ladies don't always have to have a smile on their face to be good looking.

 

I was in my early 20's when I started making
dolls.  Yep, soft sewn plushy baby dolls. 
I embroidered the eyes and that is what everyone was drawn to, the eyes. 
When I was in my early 40's I found glass!  Beautiful dichroic glass, google it if you don't know what it is. 
It is breathtaking and pictures just can't do it justice.  When you have it in your hands you become mezmerized. 
So began my journey into fusing glass and making jewelry.  Loved it!  That led me to find out that I could paint on glass, not easy, but so fullfilling. 
That is how my Painted Ladies were born.  They are hand painted on fused glass, usually 1" x 2", yes that's right, very small.
The steps to becoming one of my Painted Ladies is laborous but so worth it.  I cut each piece of glass, each lady is made with two pieces of glass.  This glass is stacked with black on the bottom and white on the top.  The glass goes into the hot hot kiln for a little over an hour then allowed to cool completely. 
Then it's ready to paint.  Once it's painted it goes back into the hot hot kiln for about 3 hours and then allowed to cool completely again.
Then I have a Painted Lady. Once again it is the eyes that everyone seems to be drawn to. 
I still have a hard time saying that I'm an artist but I love to paint my Painted Ladies so I am what
I am with no labels and I'm fine with that and unlike my Painted Ladies I always have a smile on my face.