Artist Statement

I am a self-taught artist. I began painting after my children gave me a box of watercolors purchased in a toy store for Mother’s Day in l992—the same year I became divorced after an 18-year marriage. I have been painting full-time since March of 1994.

I paint what I love, what I want to love or appreciate--what I want to really “see” and what I want to come to understand. I seek in my paintings to find a greater uplifting truth and beauty than I can usually find in my daily life. I want to be reminded and to remind—life is very good, joy is in the small moments, beauty is found in the imperfection at hand.

The common thread of my paintings is an exploration of daily life. The images and symbols I use are common to all our lives and represent, for me, both the home we live in and the one we carry inside. This subject also allows me a way to exercise and explore my traditional female energy in a non-traditional world, to heal from a difficult past, and to consider at a deeper level the challenges of life and that idea we call home.

My paintings have helped me to heal from a childhood marked by abuse and the deaths of my brothers. Through my art, I create and explore what is right in the world. It helps me to remember that while there is oft times terrible tragedy, there is always, existing simultaneously, a wonderful good. In encouraging myself, I hope I am encouraging others.

While I work in many mediums (watercolor, pencil, ink, collage, ceramic and wire), I am best known for my paintings and collages. I have developed my own watercolor technique and painting style. Indeed, there are now young artists independently working in my painting style as well as coming for instruction. My collages are, again, a new way of working with recycled magazine pages. I call them torn paper mosaics. They are an exhausting process requiring a trust in your own art and a willingness to unfold.

My original works have sold all across the United States and in many foreign countries. Having been represented in galleries from Maine to Florida, I have mounted over 150 shows, completed over 500 commissions and been published both as an artist and a writer. I love my work spending 80 plus hours a week in my studio.