Artist’s Statement

As an artist, I find that traveling is a delight to the eye and an opportunity to translate that feeling into paint. I especially love sunlit scenes with strong shapes and bright colors, woven with suggestions of activity and connection. I want to explore what is unique about the architecture, the landscape, and the people of each location. In my paintings I hope to express the sense of all these elements coming together into one compelling moment.

My work often includes figures because they bring the scene to life, add a narrative, and allow me to include spots of vivid color. When I paint people, I’m sensitive to posture and movement, which makes the viewer imagine what they’re feeling and what they’ll do next.

Before I start, I always do a quick value sketch. This helps me to design a balanced composition in terms of light and dark. I depict bright sunlight and deep shadows in my work to create a dramatic value pattern and a sense of warmth and happiness.

I usually work from my own photos, but I also like to paint from life. When I’m traveling, I’ll set up my plein air easel on a sidewalk or by the roadside to capture the authentic colors and experience of the location. I typically work in oil, but I have recently started using gouache, an opaque watercolor, for smaller paintings. I love its matte finish and versatility.

 One of the wonderful things about being an artist that it’s continually fascinating and challenging. There’s always more to learn!

Biography

As I child, it never occurred to me to be an artist even though I was always very creative, doing many crafts and making doll clothes. But technical careers were encouraged in my family, so I became a mechanical engineer and then a commercial interior designer. 

On a whim twenty years later, I took a drawing course. My teacher was very supportive and soon I was painting in watercolor and oil. I felt I had discovered a part of myself.

I started my artistic career focusing on portraits. I was intrigued by the idea of defining a likeness using shape, value, and color. I worked as a professional portrait artist for ten years, but once I started painting scenes from my travels in Europe, there was no turning back.

My work began to focus on the cities and landscapes that inspired me. Soon I began to add people to my paintings because they added energy and a narrative to the scene.

Because I became an artist later in life, my art education has been eclectic. I attended many classes and workshops from artists I admired, and I read obsessively about painting principles and techniques. Recently I have been taking online classes on figure drawing, digital painting, and gouache. I have also been painting more regularly from life; painting both live figures and plein air landscapes.

 My husband and I love to travel, visiting beautiful locations and museums around the world, and especially in Europe. My favorite countries are France and Italy because I appreciate their rich history, architecture, and culture, and I enjoy using my life-long study of French and Italian to chat with locals.
I live in Tampa, Florida with my husband, Chris, and our Lakeland Terrier, Jack.