There were neighbors that I played with and did all the things that children do. I did mow the lawn. I did help with various things that needed to be done to occupy my time.

My parents' names were Florian and Mabel Smith. My mother's maiden name was Dersam. They were of German heritage and were part of a family community with my grandparents and uncles and relatives. I was an only child.

What I adore is mixing the unexpected, things you don't imagine should go together

Upon graduation, in the yearbook I was voted "Most likely to succeed." which I know was credited to my artistic achievements.

I was painting furniture, learning to stencil, and explore all kinds of traditional techniques of decoration. I learned from books that I picked up.

My parents never prevented me from doing anything, but they didn't have the knowledge of the arts that Mrs. Ranger had.

The environment itself was culturally a vacuum, in that there was simply nothing that would inspire me in the arts. But my parents were always very supportive of anything that I explored or wanted to do.