I have been creating art in one way or another since I was a young child. I find my deepest joy when I am playing with color, shape and texture. My mixed media pieces arise from pure creative energy, without any pre-conceived ideas about the outcome. It is a communion that evolves back and forth, layer upon layer, between myself and the canvas. I paint, play with textures and colors and listen. I may add pieces of torn paper, foils, gauze, screen, anything I can find to get the texture I am looking for.
I love nature and the peace I feel there. I do not strive for realism. I simply want to express the way a place makes me feel. I find soft pastels to be the best medium for my landscape works. I love the vividness and spontaneity of pastels and the way the pastel feels as it moves across the archival sanded surfaces I work on. I use professional grade pastels; they are not "chalks" but are the same pure pigment used in oil paints and watercolors. However, pastels are pure pigment, sometimes mixed with a little binder. They don't crack, turn yellow, or fade. Pastel paintings, properly framed, remain as fresh and vivid as the day they were painted.
I have taken art classes most of my life. I have studied Sumi-E -- Japanese brush painting, acrylics, mixed media and watercolor. I am very fortunate to have Richard McKinley as my pastel teacher and mentor at this time. Richard is a master pastellist and oil painter and teaches worldwide.
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