Born Jean Miller in 1947 in San Mateo, CA, I was raised in Redwood City and attended Sequoia High School (class of 1965). Married very young, I became Jean Waldo at the tender age of 16 (kids, don't try this at home!), and had two children by the time I was 18 (Linda & Barbara). Whew! No time for art then! I was divorced in 1974, and worked in electronics to support myself and my girls. After seven years doing assembly work at Litton Industries in San Carlos, Watkins-Johnson in Palo Alto, and Zeta Labs in Santa Clara, I answered an ad in the newspaper for an electronics instructor for the R.O.P. (Regional Occupational Program) in Gilroy...no experience necessary!!! That first year was me going to UC Berkeley Extension on weekends and learning how to teach while being about a week ahead of my students. Fun and exciting! For the next 6 years, I taught basic DC theory, soldering, and schematic reading, both for R.O.P. and Gavilan College in Gilroy, CA.
In the mean time, I met and married George Hanamoto, THE MOST WONDERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD!! When Silicon Valley had it's slump in the mid-80's, and my students lost their job opportunities, so did I! George was so supportive, and when I said I'd like to go back to school, he agreed, even though we would have to depend on his income alone... and even though I wanted to do something as hideously impractical as paint! :) I completed the AA program in Fine Art at Gavilan College in Gilroy in 1989. I was almost 40 years old before I picked up a paintbrush and I had no idea that this was in me! George and I learned to make picture frames so my art would be more complete, and so our first business was born. From 1989 to 2002, George and I had a shop at 60 E. San Martin Ave. in San Martin, called "George the TV man" and "Artworks Frame & Gallery". It was a little cottage with a white picket fence and flowers everywhere. George was a TV and VCR repairman, and put up dish antennas for several years. I was the permanent "Featured Artist" and we both worked on the framing (he made the frames and cut the glass, and I designed and put everything together). In his "spare time", he had a big veggie garden at the side of the shop where he became "George the Gardener man". Since I painted mostly flowers then, a story in the local paper was titled "Magnolias and Magnavox"!
For several years, I took classes and worked on my painting skills. I taught myself to put a web site together and uploaded my first watercolor site. I was getting some nice recognition for my work when my life took an interesting turn. In 1998, I had started using my original photographs to create art on the computer. It's a passion now. It seems like everything came together - a love of photography, self-taught computer skills, and my husband's health. I started producing some gorgeous and vital art that couldn't have happened any other way. I made another web site, “Marijuana as Art”, got my own domain, and went off in a different direction from my watercolors. I started to create "paintings" from my photographs of one of the only legal medicinal marijuana gardens in California, and of the people that are allowed to use marijuana as medicine. 
In April of 1998, George was able to get a recommendation from his doctor to use marijuana for his glaucoma, and we joined WAMM (Wo/Men's Alliance for Medicinal Marijuana), a patients co-op in Santa Cruz. My art has been inspired by all the wonderful, generous, kind and concerned people in this group that are working together to grow and give away this potent herb as medicine. They all have many medical problems - AIDS, cancer, MS, epilepsy, glaucoma, killer blood pressure, Cerebral Palsy - and they've all been helped by this ancient medicinal plant. I'm a crusader, because even though California and a few other states have made this legal for people with a doctor's OK, the Federal Government is determined to make life more difficult for people that should be left alone. Although doctor's are no longer threatened with losing their license to practice, it's only a courageous few that will put themselves in that position . Our government classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug - something with no medical use whatsoever - along with heroin. I certainly have learned the true story, so I’m saying something with my art.
For seven years, until 2005, I was the official photographer / artist / historian for WAMM. I recorded history as it was being made. After joining WAMM, George found his inner gardener, and became garden co-ordinator for the group. We grew and learned and celebrated with people that were so special. My art started to reflect my surroundings, eventually coming together with everything else in my life in a collection of photography/computer blended pieces that are honestly unique. My art is the garden, and the people who work and depend on it and each other. I've recorded life and death, sickness and joy, love and that damn DEA raid!
The last picture is of my Grandson, Jackson. Born in 1991, he is living in Sacramento with his Mom, Barbara (Bobbie) and Dad John, and an assortment of OPK (other people's kids) that regularly pass through the household on their way to adulthood. Love the whole family - some of my favorite relatives.
Even though we’re living far away now, George and I still support and love WAMM and hope they will be successful always. For some time I’ve been one of the most active marijuana fine artist on the Internet. People from all over the world have come to visit me online, and I hope I’ve influenced a few to more appreciate Cannabis as a lovely plant and a good medicine. Since April 20, 2005 (4/20!), George and I have lived in a beautiful house in Willits, in Mendocino County, California and I’m “retired” which means I’m not doing anything different, just making beautiful art with beautiful plants in an upgraded setting! In May of 2010, I started a new business - Camomoto - to make t-shirts and tank tops with my patterns. Wish me luck! Thank you! I’d love to hear from you. Write to me at the address below. I answer my own e-mail, believe me! hahaha!
Thank you all for your support.