What is your personal artistic motto or mission in a sentence or two?

I love being outside experiencing every part of the landscape around me no matter where I am. I get energized and all my senses seem to come alive when I experience the beauty of nature and the environment. In my paintings I am trying to capture the beauty and energy I see and feel and transfer it through my paintings.

What are three words that describe your style?

representational, slightly impressionistic and engaging

Where are you coming from and how did you start your artistic journey?

I have been doing art ever since I can remember. I started out drawing and once I was in school I began painting and working with play dough or clay. I always took art class all through school and then went on to college and received my Bachelors in Fine Art. Once I was out of college I began my career as a graphic designer which I am still doing. Throughout my career I have taken several night classes in painting and have always done some painting on my own. I also took night classes to earn my Masters in Education. It wasn’t until about 7 years ago I began a more serious effort to do more art and get involved in an art community. That is when I joined the Springfield Art Guild and learned so much and was inspired from all the member artists. I am still learning and being inspired today. Since then I have been accepted into the Loft Gallery in Occoquan where I have a studio and sell my artwork along with 20 other local artists. I love it! I also have been teaching drawing, pastel painting, acrylic painting and some craft classes at the Loft Gallery, Fairfax County Parks, and Alexandria City Recreation Department. I look forward to retiring soon so I can put lots more time into painting!

What inspires you to create? What holds you back?

I am inspired to create by being around other artists and seeing and hearing about their artwork. I am also inspired by the colors, light, environment and intricacies of nature.

The thing that holds me back is fear. It is the fear that I won’t be able to create a painting the way I am envisioning it. The fear that the painting won’t turn out good enough – won’t be perfect. But I have to remind myself of a great lesson  I learned from a workshop with Marla Baggetta (professional successful pastel artist) and that is called the 3 “P’s”. Perfection leads to Procrastination leads to Paralysis. I have to remind myself of that a lot.

What is your favorite piece you have created or favorite art experience, and why?

My favorite painting so far is a recent one titled “Forest Trail” (pictured here). It is a painting where I feel I had a “break through” in my painting approach and technique. As I painted it I felt the process was flowing almost effortlessly. I had let my guard down and allowed myself to just flow and engage. It was a new experience for me.

Tell us something positive that has happened to you in the last month?

My husband and I got to get away and go hiking for a few days in the beautiful area of Mount Rogers in southwest Virginia. This is an area that has been on my list to explore and hike. We love to hike and this area has the most beautiful scenic trails plus there is Grayson Highlands State Park that has wild ponies along the trails. We saw it all – the beautiful views of mountains in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia along with the wild ponies. I took lots of pictures and plan on doing paintings from there. It was a wonderful get-away.

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