I’ve lived for extended periods in Italy, England and Japan, and recently moved to Asheville, North Carolina, from coastal Maine. Each of these unique cultures has influenced and contributed to my artistic growth and vision. Above all, I’m a colorist and a choreographer of nuances, weaving together gestural brushwork and thick paint, sometimes adding a touch of whimsy to the mix. My paintings grow from meditations, memories, and accidents. They are interpretations and imaginings, springing from what-ifs. This process allows me to dance between observation and invention, to develop color harmonies, to expand my original experience and embroider upon it.
Background
My university training was in non-objective abstract art. After graduation, I felt the need to incorporate representational elements in my work. I was living in Naples, Italy, and my years there allowed me repeated access to some of the greatest museums in the world. This served as my own self-guided MFA program, and is an experience for which I am extremely grateful. I moved into the watercolor medium at that time, when my children were small, and I continued to work in it exclusively for the next 10 years. This was followed by a ten-year period of working exclusively in pastels, which I fell in love with while living in England. However, I am more expressive with a brush in my hand and, ultimately, I took up oils, which opened a Pandora’s box of technical tricks, surprises, and fun in the studio.
Working Process
My work starts with color. Color to art is as seasoning is to food - it’s the flavor that makes the dish enticing. So, first, I decide ‘what I’m hungry for,’ and I grab tubes of paint that seem to fit that flavor/color profile. They are never the same from painting to painting, or even from day to day within the same painting. The subject evolves from color shifts, lines, smudges and random marks, often with the texture of the paint itself serving as the source of my inspiration. Moving from thin, transparent washes, reminiscent of my watercolor days, to opaque strokes of thick impasto paint, reminiscent of my work in pastels, I build my surface, throwing lots of scraping, layering and gestural brushwork at the canvas. I intend my paintings to work on many visual levels, and the variety of my paint handling is of equal importance to the light and the subjects I present. They all work together, weaving a tapestry of color with added elements of recognition and surprise.