I grew up in the west of Scotland on Loch Lomond, helping my dad crew his freshwater biology research launch. Hence, the outdoors and the wild have always been a passion. And this has been articulated from childhood through watercolor landscape painting. My grandmother taught me the basics. An academic career in geography and urban planning, first in the UK and later in the US, meant that I could paint only occasionally.  But, in the last 15 years, since retirement, I have been able to indulge to the full, branching out into oils and pastels.