Artist's Statement

ARTIST STATEMENT 

 I tend to seek out the rough ground. It can be just past the pavement in an urban park, or far down a wilderness trail. Raised to be an outdoors-woman, I feel at home up a mountain, on the sea, or in the desert. I choose my natural subjects because they delight, sooth, or awe me and put the workaday human humdrum into perspective. And no matter where I open my sketchbook or set up my easel, I'm having a good time.

 I've called Germany,  Puerto Rico, Alaska, the Rocky Mountains and the East and West coasts my homes.  After a 35-year career in journalism, I now live in Santa Barbara, California. I have studied oil and pastel painting under artists including Marcia Burtt, Richard McKinley, David Gallup, and Bert Collins. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Mexico, and have worked toward an associates degree in fine art from Santa Barbara City College.  I begin most of my paintings on site as field studies. These small works may become larger pieces in my studio. My subjects also include still lifes, and "portraits" of boats. I've been strongly influenced by the California Impressionists so I especially strive for quality and mood of light.

I think life is to be grasped as well as observed,  so I remain an avid hiker and swimmer and I captain a racing sailboat. I think this first-hand experience aids my art. Drawing and painting have always been my way of commemorating the singular instants of beauty I find "out there."  I want to bring my patrons the sensation as well as the sight of, say, an ocean wave smashing a cliff, or the lazy heat of a wildflower meadow. It is a challenge I immensely enjoy.