If my paintings could speak --- and sing--- they would speak and sing in Spanish.

I was born and raised on the Texas-Mexico border, literally a couple of miles north of that huge divide, the Rio Grande. My childhood and early years influence my artwork greatly.
My mother was a midwife and I and my two sisters were her faithful assistants starting at age eleven or twelve. We witnessed lots of pain, joy, sorrow, and tenderness. The power of being woman and of giving life, as seen through my young girl eyes, affected me deeply and has influenced my art to this day.

I grew up with one foot in the Mexican culture and the other in the American culture and admired the great Mexican painters since first discovering them as a kid. My studies and a thirst for adventure took me to the Austin, Texas area where I discovered activism and the Chicano Art Movement. That launched me into a whole new world and fanned the flames of artistic passion. I never did go to art school, deciding in my youthful arrogance that it seemed like a big waste of time. My mother did not believe in organized religion and taught herself the skills of midwife. I suppose I learned the "just do it, already" attitude from her. I still look to Mexico for endless inspiration. Mexico was always a part of my reality. Traveling frequently to this impossibly beautiful and contradictory country keeps me engaged and fascinated. Now in my late forties, I have mellowed out but continue to discover new concepts, techniques, and possibilities in art every day.