About

Artist’s Biography:

Welcome to my website and thank you for stopping by! As you can tell, I paint in a representational style nearly always incorporating people, especially children, into my narrative work and using composition and color (or sometimes bold black and white) to invite you to participate in the story. My paintings emphasize child nurturing relationships, religious themes and often combine the storytelling with social justice issues from human trafficking to homelessness, diversity and the environment  I usually work in oils due the brilliance of the hues and the textural qualities of the paint. Often I use a verdaccio underpainting with multi layered glazing because it adds a richness of color that I find aesthetically pleasing, especially in portraits. 

 

Below my introductory illustration on my Home page, you can find trailers for several of the 5 children's picture books I've illustrated, 4 for Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. and one for United Way. As a part of my artistic journey, I have also had the joy of teaching art to teens for 17 years in public schools in Ohio and Florida.

 In addition to doing a variety of commissioned work and illustrations, I have also created a series of 25 black and white paintings entitled "Faces of Human Trafficking" to help raise awareness and educate about the scourge of sex trafficking in the United States of America. These 25 paintings have been exhibited in a wide range of public and private art centers and galleries as well as government and church settings in Central Florida where I reside. The paintings help audiences make a powerful visual connection to the true stories told to me by survivors and the information I share. To respect the privacy and dignity of these survivors, the faces in the paintings are not theirs.   

I am looking forward to doing a  solo show in April of 2026 at the St. Thomas Art Project Galley in St. Petersburg, Fl. Other venues where I have exhibited include the following: Dunedin Fine Art Center, Carrollwood Cultural Center, The Franciscan Center, Junior League of Tampa Headquarters, Orlando's City Factory Galleries, Museum of Florida Art {now, Museum of Art, DeLand} Casselberry Art House, University of Florida's Natural History Museum, Orlando Museum of Art, DeLand's African American Museum of Art, DeBary City Hall & Government Center, Gateway Center for the Arts, Brevard Museum, Casements, Florida State Capitol Building, Disney World Village, Nashville's Parthenon Galleries, Nashville's Cheekwood Art Museum, Ohio's Dayton Art Institute, Dayton's High Street Gallery, Wright State University Gallery, Mt. Saint Joseph University Gallery, The Lawrence E. Whelan's Hospice Grief Center, Florida United Methodist's Lakeland State Conference Center. Many churches have also exhibited my work including Orange City United Methodist, First United Methodist of Port Orange, St. Ann's Catholic Church of DeBary, First Congregational Church of Orange City, Volusia County Baptist Church, and Tomoka United Methodist Church of Ormond Beach

   

 Artist’s Statement:

 

I believe in commitments: to God, to my beloved family, and to my work which is my affirmation of life and the power of love. Art is a spiritual link with my Creator. It is the lilting, haunting melody which leads me through my life both in times of sunshine and of shadow. Sometimes it dances joyously, bright and free. Sometimes, it is more subtle, submerged beneath life’s demands, but like an underground river of pure water that sustains and refreshes. Art can calm me and lift me. It can make urgent demands and wear me to a frazzle or gift me with bursts of energy I didn’t know were possible. It occupies so many of my waking thoughts. It is hope, my inspiration, a holy thing, a gift from God. It is my life’s blood as surely as that which flows through my veins, and when the end of my earthly days comes, I can say through my art work and my students left behind that I believe in the precious uniqueness and creative potential of each individual and in the sanctity of all life.