Layne was born in Seattle, Washington and raised in Portland, Oregon. She moved back to Seattle in 1969 to attend the University of Washington. She received a BA degree in art in 1973. In the fall of that year she went to Europe to travel and meet “old world” relatives before settling down to the business of earning a living. Her first job upon returning was as a counselor at a residential treatment center for adolescent girls in Yakima, WA. It was in Yakima that she bought her first house, and remodeled it. That house turned out to be the first of three that she bought and remodeled on her own, before marrying a general contractor in 1989, and taking on three more house remodels as a twosome. The majority of Layne’s working years were spent as a kitchen designer in Bellevue, WA. In 2001, she and her husband quit their jobs to take a six-month driving trip around the U.S and Canada in a VW Eurovan. It was during this time that she made the decision to seriously pursue her passion for art in the form of painting. She has been actively painting and exhibiting since then, and has work in many private collections as well as in Harborview Hospital, Swedish Hospital, Hotel Max, International Kitchens, Ryan Swanson and Cleveland law firm, and other corporations and institutions. She is represented by Alki Arts Gallery in Seattle, WA and Edward Montgomery Fine Arts in Carmel, CA.