Artist’s Statement

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love to have a needle or a paintbrush in my hands. Although I’ve played with many textile mediums, I found that the challenges of overcoming the predictable structure of any type of canvas allowed me to tell my stories best. I love to explore the “outer edges” of the canvas and keep experimenting and pushing my ideas outside the canvas’ structure. My first artistic success was called, “No Boundaries”, which continues to influence my artistic thoughts.

As a self-employed graphic designer for over 50+ years, I understood how objects affect space, how colors communicate, and how graphics can be used to affect emotions without ever using words. About 1998 I transitioned to web design, and my graphics background put me miles ahead of the internet designers of the time (which were mostly “designed” by programming techies). So, for a while my creative side was satisfied.

Now I am a retired business owner. About 10 years ago I decided it was time to come back to my love of abstract art. I found joy in the “unexpected” and serendipitous results of mixing paints into new combinations, painting and dying and spattering to create new textures, and allowing my construction to wander off in its own direction – as if it had a mind of its own.

With an arsenal of unlimited glorious paints that could be mixed on a whim, I began my new journey with watercolor, encaustic and acrylic paints, along with creating printed papers to express myself in collages. Over the years I truly felt my artistic freedom come to life. With no road map, but with a clear direction, I set out to discover my voice.

And now, with great excitement, I am moving my art forward through constant experimentation; adding layers of watercolors, handmade papers and other textural elements that add dimension and textures to express my love of movement.

I am constantly learning new lessons. Parts of each of those lessons can always be found in my next piece. So, each new work of art is an evolution – an exploration – of techniques which move me on to the next project. And while I always enjoy the piece I am working on, I am also planning and anticipating the next project.

My next step in the evolution of my work is freedom and commitment (which sounds almost contradictory). When I doubt my ability to make that next leap in my work it’s usually because I haven’t fully committed myself to it. And when I do commit, I get almost giddy. And when I feel that the commitment was a success, I dance a gleeful victory dance. This feeling is totally addictive and gives me the spark to start my next project. I have no fear of staring at a blank canvasses or watercolor paper, because I can’t wait to start a new project.

I am mesmerized by the contrast between wild movement and quiet geometric shapes. I feel that is important to introduce the calming element of a grid to “tame” the chaos of my designs. I try to introduce quiet places to give my brain time to catch up with my eyes. The tension that these diametrically opposed design concepts give is what interests me most. As my eyes move around the canvas, I appreciate the feeling of freedom the movement gives me and I’m pleased by it.

There’s plenty of room for you in these artistic adventures – so I hope you will join me.