Painting Every Day

I've been an artist since I was 12 years old. I remember during a visit to the Exploratorium in San Fansciso, I watched a women paint perfect but random circles on a large sheet of paper. She used a sumi brush and black India ink. "Oh!" I thought, "what a feat; how can she be so perfect?" My sister-in-law must have overheard me say how enthralled I was; she bought me a sketch book that week with the idea that I, too, could make perfect circles with practice. I've been filling sketch books and canvases ever since.

I prefer to paint than draw, working in oils and acrylics after spending too much money on glass and frames during my watercolor stage.

I really began to paint during a sketching excursion in Provence with Marie le Glatin Kies, a french artist and author. Her magical approach reminded me that I need not force anything; just observe.

En plain air landscapes are my most common subject, but I prefer to be painting murals; they change a place and make a greater impact. Plus they require more physical exercise.

Portraits are my most challenging work. I want to transform my daily painting into the capturing of a person's imagination much like surrealist artists. To that end, I am practicing the freeing-up of palette and brush strokes.

Education

I studied art and photography in high school, college, and graduate school. Art Education and Computer Science Education courses comprised most of my graduate work for a Master's of Interdisciplinary Studies Degree at Western Oregon University, completed in 1988.

For the past 17 years, I've provided marketing consulting, graphic design, web development, illustration, and photography services to small and medium business.

For 3 years, I built online courses for the Oregon State University's distance education program.

In 2005, I traveled the USA by motor coach, earning a living by teaching an online course entitled Gender and Technology and painting landscapes, portraits and murals. I prefer to paint outdoors, so decided a trip South and just part-time work would allow me to devote more time to painting. I find that to paint for 3- to 4-hours each day makes me feel healthy.

I paint...

The visual patterns and dance of light found in everyday or spectacular scenery provides inspiration for paintings created en plain air. At other times, it is juxtaposed memories that create a composition worth recording. In these instances, thought-provoking emotions are laid down with inventive colors, acute angles, obvious brush strokes, impasto textures, and feminine lines.

Purchase paintings for home or office

An original painting improves any home or office setting. Consider purchasing a landscape painting, or call me to commission a mural, portrait, or landscape.