Artist's Statement
Images must have made a strong impression on me as a child. I still recall seeing a pen and ink drawing in one of A.A. Milne’s books and the feelings I had. An illustration from “King of the Golden River” by John Ruskin was a favorite as well. A poster that hung on my bedroom wall also lingers in my memory.
Later, I remember an en plein air painting of an iris in oil. And a sister’s set of pastels from a college class she took. When I became a freshman, Art chose me over Biology.
Maybe my fascination about the lives and beauty of butterflies is a coupling of my interest with art and the natural world.
I enjoy creating portraits, realizing that they all become remembrances over time. I enjoy doing them, and it is my wish to capture a sense of the person or companion animal for all my commissions.
Being a New Mexico native, the influence of the Southwest has also materialized in some of my work.
Ken Barrick, my most influential college teacher, was a student of Grant Wood, and introduced me to acrylic painting and to abstraction.
Along the course of my life, I’ve studied watercolor, colored pencil, and have been enticed by the interesting acrylic gels that have become available, making the dimension of visual and tactile textures an area for exploration.
May you enjoy and share my view.
Links
www.paletteers.comwww.aarrivergallery.comwww.santafecreativetourism.org
Exhibitions, Corporate and Private Collections:
Helping Hands 2008
Chinese Academy of Art Rocky Mountain Art Show, Hangzhou, China 2007
The Best of Colored Pencil III, 1996
Kaiser Permanente, Denver, CO
Water World Water Park, Federal Heights, CO
Adams County, CO Permanent Collection and Centennial Poster
Westminster, CO Community Artists Series Permanent Collection
City of Thornton, CO Permanent Collection
Long’s Iris Gardens, Boulder, CO
Columbia Basin College, Pasco, WA
Private collections in Washington State, Colorado, New Mexico and British Columbia.
Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art, New Mexico State University
Post Graduate Workshop experience:
Colored Pencil: Bet Borgeson, Vera Curnow, Ann Kuhlberg, Gary Greene.
Watercolor, Chinese Watercolor, and Watercolor Portrait: Tom Lynch, Frank Francese,
Ellie Weekley, Kathy Goodale, Dick Phillips, Patsy Smith,
Carol Orr, Lian Zhen.
Acrylic Painting: Teresa Vito and Nancy Reyner