I consider myself a self-taught artist. My passion for art was put on hold until my kids were grown up. At that time I started painting with oil and watercolor. I took many watercolor workshops and loved the fluidity of the medium. I got interested in pastels after taking a workshop with Michele Camp, a noted pastel artist living in South Florida.
I now spend most of my time painting in pastel, with watercolor as an underpainting.
I’ve studied with many nationally known pastel artists, including Greg Biolchini, Albert Handell, Anita Louise West, Sheila Rieman, Bill Hosner and Lyndelle Stonick.
I’m a signature member and past president of the United Society of Pastel Artists in Orange County, California, the Pastel Society of the West Coast, the Pastel Society of North Florida, the Pastel Society of America, and the Degas Pastel Society.
I have been acknowledged for my work at the Alabama Pastel Society with the Holbein Award for Excellence, been published in International Artist Magazine, have won an Award of Merit at the Pastel Society of the West Coast, a 1st and 2nd place at the San Clemente Art Association Member shows and a few Honorable Mentions in USPA member shows. I’ve been juried into the National Pastel Exhibition in Old Forge, NY, and was awarded Achievement in Color, 2012.
I’m in the process of painting for a solo show at the Widlund Gallery, North Creek, New York, winter 2013, and am selling landscape pastels at the Adirondack Center for the Arts, Blue Mountain Lake, New York.
For the last five years I’ve painted many commissioned landscapes in Florida, New York and California and have been giving plein air pastel workshops in New York. It’s always fulfilling to know that others are enjoying my vision.
My first love is plein air painting. I love being outdoors painting. It presents the challlenge of continuously changing light, and with it a variance of color. Color is what I strive to deliver and the pastel medium allows me creative spontaneity.
