I am a pastel and watercolor artist from Ramona, CA. I enjoy painting various subjects from animal
portraits to landscapes and seascapes. I
create in an impressionist and contemporary realism styles using a variety of brush
strokes and bold markings. My
inspiration is a combination of childhood memories and appreciating nature’s
beauty. My intention is to capture the
personality and the essence of my subjects and the story behind the painting
leaving the end results to the viewers' interpretation and inspiration. I’m so thankful to use the gift that Jesus
has given me!
My artistic journey started in my early teens living on a
small farm in central New Jersey. I
started out playing with watercolors and found it was exciting to encounter
“happy accidents” as well as “how do I fix it – leave it alone” painting
experiments. I had many subjects to
choose from poultry, horses, cats and dogs… and sheep. It’s always a challenge to capture the
subject’s personality in a painting. If
you don’t have the character of a portrait, then your subject is presumed
dead—as one art juror explained.
Fast forward after moving to Southern California, in taking
college courses, I resumed my studies in watercolor in fine arts and also
created sketches in pencil and charcoal drawings. I started to experiment with oil pastels
drawing studies of landscapes. I found
it was a nice medium to use in softening and blending with the sticks. My late father used this medium to draw
seascapes with schooners and his favorite subject, steam locomotives. I’m not sure how I diverted from the oil
pastels but I found that the soft pastels had such a vibrancy and authenticity,
I couldn’t resist using them. I found
the translucency of the medium wonderful for seascapes and any other subjects
used in paintings.
I’ve entered my finished art work in various galleries in
San Diego County including the Borrego Art Institute, the Fallbrook Art Center
and the Escondido Art Association. I
have also won various awards over the years in entering art competitions. I am grateful to have the experience of
entering art shows with meeting a diverse group of artists and the opportunity
to support the art community.
