I live on a farm in beautiful Southern Oregon with my wonderful husband Nick, our two children and our yellow lab, Tessie. I am fortunate to have a new studio on our property with windows that look out into our fields.
When I’m not painting or spending time with my family, I enjoy teaching workshops and classes. I’m currently the Vice President of the Watercolor Society of Oregon. I’m also a member of the gallery committee for the Umpqua Valley Arts Association.
As a painter, my goal is to express the joy, romance and passion of everyday life. In my watercolor paintings I like to capture common moments and scenes; doing farm chores, sharing coffee, going window shopping. There is a romance to our daily events that is often overlooked.
Recent Exhibits and Awards
- Vice President of the Watercolor Society of Oregon
- Plein Air Painters of Oregon Open Exhibition, “Celebrate Oregon”
- Solo exhibit, Fisher’s Flowers and Fine Art
- Grand Prize Winner, Mirror Pond Gallery National Pastel and Watercolor Exhibition
- Chosen for 2009 Greatest of the Grape Featured Artist and Poster Art
- Best of Show Award, “Hundred Valleys”, Umpqua Valley Art Association
- Achievement Award from the Watercolor Society of Oregon 43rd Annual Aqueous Media Exhibition
- Solo exhibit, Gallery II, Umpqua Valley Art Association
How I Paint with Watercolor
As far as technique, I set my standards pretty high. That doesn’t mean I’m near painting perfection, it means I throw away a lot of paintings! There is a price to pay for a fresh looking painting; a high mortality rate. During a workshop I took from Frank Webb he said, “Watercolors always start out beautiful, but we slowly kill the beauty. Oftentimes painters cease being painters and turn into morticians.”
It’s true that the life of a watercolor is a very fragile thing! To maintain the immediacy that I’m after, I work in three major steps. The first being a wash that transitions in color, value and temperature with so sign of a brush stroke. The second phase establishes the mid-tones and has to integrate color and subject. This is by far the most difficult step and is often where failure comes. The final stage is my favorite. I use calligraphic brush strokes with dark or bright colors. Using brush strokes is one way to personalize a piece. The more I paint, the more I appreciate seeing the hand of an artist in a painting.
With every painting, I strive for more simplicity and abstraction. I want to portray as much as possible in as few brush strokes as possible. The result is a painting that engages the viewer. I’ve done my job when someone experiences a personal connection with a painting.
Acrylic Paintings
I began painting in acrylics in 2009. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with texture and layering. My acrylic paintings are abstractions of street scenes.
Art Education
I have studied with the following international and local artists through workshops and classes at the Scottsdale Art School, Art in the Mountains, Watercolor Society of Oregon and UVAA:
- Alvaro Castagnet
- David Taylor
- Frank Webb
- Mel Stabin
- Val Persoon
- Dale Kurtz
