September 8, 1948 (60 Years Old)

United States Of America

Married

Straight

I don't drink

No

Christian - Other

Art Instructor & Winery Sales Manager

Historic Rugby, Morgan County, Tennessee

I am very happily married to Bob a retired NASA engineer.....my mother always said it would take a rocket scientist to understand my complexities, so I got me one! From a previous marriage, I have 3 beautiful daughters living in the UK, two of which are artists and the third still deciding whether she wants to develop this God-given talent! Hopefully their Green Cards will soon be finalized for them to make the USA their home too. Latest addition to the family is LuLu our new kitten who is a little ball of fun and soon to be my next painting model if she stands still long enough for me to snap a photo of her.

I was educated in Italy till the age of 11, Rhodesia till at the age of 18 when I embarked on a career with the Airlines. I had learned 4 languages by this time, and specialized as a group tours coordinator, travelling the world escorting groups of seniors, school children and  special events groups.  In the 80's when the world declared sanctions against our country seeking independence from the UK, I purchased and ran 3 of the major travel agencies destined for closure. Their success gained me the country's "Business Woman Of The Year" award in 1985.

Just when I begin to think I've got it all, and I should now relax and paint purely for pleasure, my little wheels start turning. Here in the Plateau I have met the most wonderful country folk with special skills in painting, crafting, quilting, carving, basket-making etc. They have nowhere to showcase it, but most important nowhere to demonstrate their skills to the next generation. I hate to see all this talent decrease as they, or I should say WE, get older and depart onto greener pastures. Today's children do not get enough exposure to arts and crafts. Unfortunately computers seem to have taken over and kids' idea of Art Apreciation  is downloading a print of a Chinese reproduction from WalMart's on line gallery! So, despite my next birthday seeing me turn the BIG 60, my next dream is to form a cooperative of  local artists and crafters. Since our nearest is 40 miles away I have both mayors of Morgan and Fentress County interested in the project....wish me luck!.

I'd love to see Donna and Marc visit us soon....they've promised! I welcome any OSCIs and wanna-be artists visiting our area to call and stop in. I work at the local winery (Tennessee's oldest) so come in for a free tour and winetasting....last stop in a dry county! And don't forget our home always offers a free bed and an Italian pot-luck dinner!

So come on up (or down) we'll be awaitn' for ya'll.

Love,

Mara

Painting, Visiting beautiful places, Writing poetry and short stories, Photography Cooking, Baking.

Romantic Novels

Italian (hey my Mamma taught me!), French Indian, Chinese, Greek....oh the heck I love ALL food with only a very few exceptions like frogs legs, eel, snake or road kill!

Movie themes, Elevator music and smooth Jazz.

Historical like Cleopatra, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Gladiator. Romantic like Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, Pretty Woman etc.

What besides PBS Art Shows?......Dancing With The Stars, Lifetime sloppy love movies, National Geographic and the History Channel.

Art, Art, Art...... and Gardening, I had to swap my Florida sand shovel for a pick in Tennessee's clay and slate soil. Can anyone tell me why weeds grow so well on this hard soil and my flowers struggle?

My husband, for surviving 3 wives through cancer and marrying me knowing I was another Cancer Survivor!

My art teachers are also my heroes, Donna Dewberry (for making my re-entry into art simple and fun) , Kathwren and Gary Jenkins (Oil Fine Art) , Robert  and Dorene Butler(Acrylic Florida Landscapes). Thank you all for being my beloved mentors.