About

1974 —  Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Berkeley
1984 —  Master of Architecture, University of California, Los Angeles
1991 to 1992 — Paris, France and New Orleans, LA
1993 to 2008 — Architectural practice, Deborah Forbes Designs, Los Angeles
2012 — Moved to Aptos, California

Deborah worked for many years as an architectural designer for various architecture firms in Los Angeles, until 1991, when she decided to pursue her first love—of painting. She took up residence in Paris for six months in order to revisit the art of the modern French masters she so admired. Always a music lover, she was also drawn into the jazz culture of the Left Bank and followed a musician to New Orleans, LA where she found work in the French Quarter designing iron furniture. It was in New Orleans where she began to teach herself to paint, first with pastels and then with acrylic on canvas.

Returning to Los Angeles, she established her own architectural practice—“to pay the bills” but continued to paint, primarily in oil. Of this period, Deborah says that her paintings were like “doing therapy”, the subjects “too autobiographical” to be publicly exhibited.

In 2007, Deborah married Lawrence Wolff, a film music composer and master jazz musician. They now reside in a home Deborah remodeled in beautiful Aptos, California, near Santa Cruz.

A new member of the Santa Cruz Art League, (SCAL), Deborah continues to devote herself to painting.