Chicago-born artist Jody Joseph nurtured her passion for painting throughout her California legal career until she finally gave up law books for paint brushes in the mid-1990s to devote herself full-time to painting.     Ms. Joseph spends several months of each year painting and teaching in Italy at the International School of Painting, Drawing & Sculpture in Umbria, Italy, where she is Director of the Residency & Continuing Education programs.  When not in Italy, she paints in her backyard studio in Dundas, Ontario, and teaches at the Dundas Valley School of Art, and at workshops throughout Ontario. Joseph’s paintings and collages have been exhibited widely in the United States, Canada and Italy.