Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1960. her love of art was ignited by her grandfather Liam O'Rinn whose paintings she grew up with and where he had his painting studio. She began her formal study of painting at the Dunloghaire School of Art and earned a BFA at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland. After making her way to New York City in 1983, to study further, she earned a Masters in Fine Art from Hunter College in 1986. In 2000 she relocated from New York City to the Hudson Valley, where she found the new surroundings visually compelling: the Catskill Mountains, the Ashokan Reservoir, the deer, birds and flora.