Artist’s Statement

My sunlit cityscapes and landscapes speak of joy and connection in everyday life and are a way for me to create an ideal world.

My eye yearns for beauty and order. I photograph cities – both in Florida and as I travel – because I am intrigued by architectural styles and forms. In composing my paintings, I play with those rectilinear shapes and textures as a contrast to the more organic forms of figures, trees, and greenery.

I include people in my cityscapes because they add energy, and their stories bring the scene to life. I like to loosely indicate the human form in a way that hints at the person’s motion and state of mind. The figures are arranged to suggest a narrative that allows for a certain ambiguity. We wonder "Who are they? What are they thinking about? What will happen next?"

I paint in either oil or acrylic. Oil for its luscious smoothness and blending qualities, and acrylic for its bright colors and forgiveness. Even though I plan each painting, I don’t really know how it will look until the very end. As I paint, I react to the canvas in the moment and make changes based on my intuition. In this way my paintings become a tapestry of statements and revisions, and an echo of my daily inspirations.

Biography

Throughout my childhood, I was very creative, doing crafts and making doll clothes. But I never considered becoming an artist. Technical careers were encouraged in my family, so I became a mechanical engineer and then a commercial interior designer. Twenty years later, on a whim, I took a drawing course. My teacher was very supportive and soon I was painting in watercolor and oil. I felt I had rediscovered a part of myself.

I started my artistic career focusing on portraits. I was intrigued by the idea of molding a likeness using shape, value, and color. After ten years, I tuned to landscapes and cityscapes, adding people to add energy and hint at a story.

Since I became an artist later in life, my art education has been eclectic. I attended many classes and workshops from artists I admire. Recently I have been taking online classes on figure drawing and digital painting, which brings another dimension to my value and color sketches.

My husband and I love to travel, to see beautiful destinations and visit museums around the world. My favorite countries are France and Italy because of their rich culture and the opportunity to use my language skills.

I now live in Tampa, Florida with my husband Chris and our Lakeland Terrier, Jack.