ABOUT

I am primarily a self-taught artist with a passion for Watercolor.  The transparency and unpredictability of watercolor has always drawn me to this medium.   I love the challenge that painting in watercolor provides.

While raising 3 children and wanting to re-energize my creative side, I took several watercolor classes at Irvine Fine Arts Center.  It was in these classes that I discovered the fun and beauty of watercolors and their unpredictability.  Throughout the next 12 years, I picked up a brush now and then, and occasionally took classes.  After retirement, I decided to take my art seriously.  I studied watercolor at Goldenwest Community College with  Harvey Clemens, at Coastline Community College with Christine Sullivan, and at Citrus College with Chris Van Winkle.  In my search to create my own unique style, I  have attended workshops with noted artists, Roger Armstrong,  Roland Haas, Tim Clarke, Brenda Swenson, Frank Francese, Tom Fong, Gerald Brommer, and Fealin Lin.  My art has evolved to use more intense and vibrant colors and  to be looser and less representational.

My intersection paintings utilize positive and negative shapes, while inviting the viewer  to look and linger in the details.  Objects are selected and intentionally overlapped and alternated to convey a message to the viewer.  Other paintings involve splashing colors randomly to create an underpainting, allowing me  the freedom to create a painting with no initial direction.  They are created with fun, spontaneity and improvisation.  Using my imagination, the “alligator series” in New Orleans intends to amuse the viewer. It depicts alligators running loose in New Orleans, creating a sense of merriment.

I enjoy the process of experimenting in Mixed Media.  Some of my works involve using paper collage on my watercolor.   Other works are paintings entire done with paper collage.   I enjoy creating art using  textures and colors.   Often materials are used that would otherwise be discarded in the environment, are integrated into the painting.  Some of the collage paintings are abstract, allowing the viewer to question the artist’s intentions.

Part of the adventure in life is not knowing until you get there!  I like to think of my paintings as an adventure, not always using a road map.  My paintings serve to take me into another place.