Artist's Statement

I paint mostly around and about Ithaca. Taughannock Falls, Shindaggin Hollow, the Ithaca Farmers' Market, the Cornell Arboretum, and Treman Marina are a few of the more well-known places where I parked my easel during the last few years. I start all of my paintings on site, returning several times to correct the composition, adjust the color, and capture the atmosphere. Then I work in the studio to make sure that it becomes a painting. I use either a brush or a palette knife. I don't think about which I will choose; it is usually dictated by the subject, my mood, or the amount of time that I have.

My work is saturated with color and light. At an exhibit of my work, a viewer once asked if I really see that much color in the world, or if I make it up. There may have been a time when I asked, "If that shadow were a color, what color would it be?" but now I really do just look at the world and see a tremendous variety of colors.

I have always been creative. Painting, drawing, fabric collage, embroidery, clay or wire sculpture were my hobbies from early childhood; but my formal training had to wait until after I earned a BS in education and became self supporting. Then I threw myself into art classes at Syracuse University, Cortland State, and TC3. George Dugan, Steven Barbash, and Mary Kelly were all very important to my early work. When I came to Ithaca, I studied with Gillian Pederson-Krag, and I will be eternally grateful to her for opening up the world of color for me.

I have exhibited in Rochester at the Memorial Art Gallery, in Seneca Falls at the Canalside Arts Gallery, in Auburn at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art, in Cortland at the Cortland County Arts Council at the Dowd Fine Arts Gallery, in Dryden at TC3, and in Ithaca at One More Gallery for the Sake of Art, Artifax, The Community School of Music and Art, The State of the Art Gallery, and the Upstairs Gallery. My work has also appeared in local restaurants and cafes.

In addition to painting, I have a full-time job teaching at the Alternative Community School (a part of the Ithaca, New York, city school system). I also enjoy gardening, hiking, backpacking, and watching my children blossom into early adulthood.