My name is Ann Chaikin. I am a painter and a photographer. I live in the beautiful Northwest where it rains all winter and has long beautiful days in the summer. I share my home with my sweet husband Arvin and a senior Maine Coon cat named Fiona Queen of the Universe. For many years I worked at IBM in New York and California and at Whatcom Community College here in Bellingham. I was a programmer, trainer, manager and coordinator. I retired in 2003 and began to paint, something I'd wanted to do for years. I paint in oils because I love the richness of color and the way oil paint mixes and moves on the canvas. Like my photographs, my paintings are about beauty and magic in everyday life. My work is evolving as I grow as a painter. All my years as a photographer have given me a special view of light and color that I am infusing into my paintings.