I was born near Meeker, Colorado and grew up on a ranch that was part of an original homestead back in 1917. My Grandparents lived across the valley and between their land and ours; I had the whole world to ride in. I got my first horse when I was five. His name was Dan and he was a big black horse. I must have fallen off him a million times. I had to lead him up to the fence then climb up on the fence and jump off on his back. Sometimes I missed.

My Dad, Carroll "Chuck" Witherell went into the army the day after Pearl Harbor and stayed in until it was over. I was so very proud of him and am still very patriotic. My Mother Dorothy was an artist and was my first influence in all kinds of art. I went to a country school with only three students (me, my brother and my uncle) and my Mom’s younger sister Mary Ellen was our teacher. She was also an artist so I had a head start in that area. We had many clay banks and made our own pottery bowls and figurines which we fired in pits lined with stones.

My first commercial jobs were painting horses, Hereford bull heads, deer and elk on denim or leather jackets when I was in high school. I went to college in Denver; first to Central Business College and then to the University of Denver. I met and married an airman there and ended up in Ft. Worth Texas, then Roswell, New Mexico, where my first son Kim was born. Later I moved back to Denver where two more sons Ted and Tom were born. I moved to Miami, Florida, in 1963, lived there until 1982 and then moved to Ocala, Florida. I went through a divorce in 1964 then met and married Peter Janowitz in 1975.

We live about 15 miles north and west of Ocala on a mini farm called Mt Joy Farm. We bought the land before we ever came up here and designed and built our own home. Of course I have a studio with a huge glass sliding door looking out on a trellised area where I can see my herb garden, bougainvilleas and Wisteria. There are bird feeders and birdhouses everywhere. We have a gray Arabian mare named Jodie, a mini gelding named Mischief and a little pony mare called Silky. We also have a Black lab/Rottweiller dog named Angel.

Pete lost his eyesight in 1994 following a hip replacement and severe loss of blood. It has changed our lives completely. We are now retired. We do some traveling, mostly for genealogy trips, high school class reunions and weddings. Our last wedding trip was to Phoenix, AZ where my niece got married.

My most recent artwork involved painting three large (5 ft by 7 ft) murals on the outside of the new building for the Marion County Veterans Services offices. They purchased the original painting on canvas and it is now their official logo. I was commissioned in 2002 to do a painting in memory of the terrorist attack on 9-11for the Veterans Memorial Park here in Ocala. It is called “An Act of War” and was engraved in black marble in one of the memorial pedestals at the park. I also painted an Eagle and American Flag for the 351st Military Police which is headquartered here in Marion County. That painting, the “Act of War” and a third painting of an Eagle with the flag called “Don’t Mess With America” were used by America’s Hometown Heroes as part of their mailing program to our soldiers overseas. I have sold giclee’s and prints of these paintings but the originals are not available.

I have painted buffalo skulls with "frost" and real stones in both oil and acrylic. I have a series of carrousel horses done from photographs I took of a Marcus Illions carrousel. These were put into a coloring book for children plus acrylic paintings on canvas. The book is currently sold out. I plan to update and reprint it soon. The lead horse from these drawings was carved into one inch glass approximately three by four feet.

I also paint wild life on consignment, my last ones being a set of black rhinos in oil, a set of fox heads on black granite and a series of race horses (Monarchos) on black granite. These are one-of-a-kind pieces. In that same vein, I painted a series of Eagles and Flags on granite, marble and polished limestone. Governor Jeb Bush has one as does President George W. Bush. There are foxes, osprey, eagles, wolves, bear and coyotes in private collections.

My studio is full of books, paints, and millions of brushes. I never throw a bush a way. If it has served me faithfully, it deserves to be stuck in an old broken cup and be remembered fondly. Besides I just may need it one of these days to "scrumble" a background. I paint in oils, water and acrylics and sometimes use more than one media in a painting. I take old black and white photographs from our childhood and "remake" them into paintings such as those on our last two Christmas cards. One is Pete’s boyhood home and one is a 1917 photograph of my Grandfather’s old barn. It was leaning over so I had to straighten it up, remove some outbuildings and add some advertising. This is a fun way of sharing with our family and friends.

My biggest artistic influence has to be my Mother. There was no wrong way to create art and no painting was ever “bad”. Some needed a little "sprucing up" or we set it back and helped it along later. The only no-no was tracing and I was never allowed to do that. With today’s technology and painting supplies, it is a pleasure to paint. I think my Mother’s influence shows mostly in my painting what I feel and finding I like it rather than painting what I think the world might like. When painting on commission I try to put my ideas in a pot on the shelf and listen to the "owner of the idea".

My hero is a difficult one. I think my husband Peter is because he has been so brave and positive through the loss of his eyesight. I cannot imagine not being able to paint and to read or to see those beautiful blue eyes of my grandchildren. Pete has been so strongly behind me and my painting as well as my other hobbies of genealogy, reading, writing and teaching that is absolutely amazes me. He is my hero as well as my mainstay, my white buffalo and my mentor. He picks me up when I am down and laughs with me when I am happy. He has an excellent memory and side-seat drives like crazy so I can do no wrong. Besides, he is my best friend.

My favorite saying might be: "Life is full of potholes and turns in the road, but have faith and love so that your glass will always be half full and never half empty." My Mother always told me: "There is no such thing as 'can't', just get an equalizer".