Born in the middle of summer long ago, 4th up & 4th down of 7 in South Idaho. In 1976, many years after dropping out of high school, with two children still at home and two out on their own, Heywood graduated from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, with a bachelor's in English and a bachelor's in art. Two years later she had her MA in English from Washington State University. Over the years, as she raised children and taught English Comp, when she found time, she painted - on canvas, on plywood, on paper. She painted rooms in her house, put down tile in kitchens and bathrooms, textured walls and studied chemical effects of washes on walls. After work in the evenings and on weekends, she changed flat surfaces wherever she found them. Painting on canvas or Masonite, she lost herself in color, texture, line and shape and the process. May of 1999, she married again and moved to Kansas City, MO, and then in June of 2006, retired and moved with 2 dogs to Boise, Idaho, where, with her younger sister's help, remodeled, painted, and 'flipped' a house and in late September that year, she and her dogs moved to Heyburn, Idaho, to a little house three miles from her mother's art studio in Burley. She committed herself to paint and since May 17th, 2007, has produced more than 500 paintings and found homes for well over half of them. In June of 2016, her mother died and left her the house, studio and gallery, now she paints more than before. She throws layers of paint on surfaces. She paints until she sees something, and then paints that. However her paintings turn out, and most are satisfying to her or she paints over them, she says she's happy as she has ever been in her life and wishes everyone the same.

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