Born in Sydney, 1961. Cole started drawing at a very early age. When her kindergarten teacher singled out her drawing of a dog to show the class (at age five) she knew she would be an artist.

In 1979 she was accepted into both The Alexander Mackie College of Education (now The College of Fine Arts) and a Randwick TAFE Graphic Design course (now run at Design Centre, Enmore). 'I chose design because I was interested in typography and the commercial side of art. Drawing and painting came so naturally to me - but I grew up in the time of Pop Art... I wanted to play with composition, colour and explore the mathematics of art'.

Before her 21st birthday, she fled to the northern beaches to live with a surfer and spray surfboards. In the same year she began employment at a Sydney advertising agency, quickly becoming an Art Director. In the next few years she moved from advertising to design, working for a marketing design studio. She married the surfer, had two children and began a career as a Freelance Illustrator and Designer. During this time Cole continued to supply artwork for advertising agencies, design studios and publishers in Australia and the world, illustrating thirteen books, and co-authoring "The Dog Whisperer" & "Whispers of Wisdom" with John Richardson (New Holland Publishers). Gradually the need to find expression once again in painting and drawing would change her priorities.

A self taught artist, Cole paints in a realist style with a designer's eye, placing great emphasis on composition and colour balance. Portraiture dominated much of her early subject matter with works influenced largely by fashion photography. Pattern and textiles often form design elements in her figurative compositions. More recent paintings are inspired by her extensive travels across the Australian countryside, depicting the beauty of the rural landscape and the significance of the people who live on the land. Coauthoring 'The Dog Whisperer' books further influenced Cole's work by nurturing her fascination with the close relationships that humans can have with their animals. The result is an increasing body of work which tells an emotive story of the spirit of the land and the soul of those so closely connected to it.