I’m a Florida transplant of almost one year, being born and raised on Long Island , New York .  In April 2004 my husband retired and we moved to our new home in Trinity, Florida , a town that was carved out of New Port Richey.  Five years ago I began taking decorative painting classes from Beth Wagner, an excellent teacher in Stony Brook, Long Island .  I loved painting, but knew I’d never achieve professional status like Beth.  One day she had visiting CMOTs (Certified Mary Owens Teachers) Charlie and Judy Mclaughlin come to teach Mary’s pen and ink oil roughing technique.  I took the class and was hooked.  I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that my first project looked almost as good as theirs!   I loved the fact that any mistake I made was correctable and that the only “skills” I needed were the ability to trace a pattern and put blush on my face without the lines showing.  No strokes to learn and practice, practice, practice. No more buying dozens of expensive brushes (I’ve got 48) or multiple bottles of paint (I’ve got 164) for each project I did.  One set of 4 brushes and one set of 6 tubes of paint were all I needed to do any of Mary’s patterns.  I took Mary’s certification course in Leesburg , Florida in September 2003.  I get a thrill to see the proud expressions on my students’ faces when they see how professional their finished projects look. I supply all the materials except for the project piece, and my students decide together which design they want to do.  I insist on my classes being stress less, fun and rewarding.  Believe me when I say that if I can do this, YOU can, too!