I have been a sketcher and painter for my entire life, learning beside my mother as she delved into watercolor painting during my early childhood.
I am very much a direct painter: planning and revision of the painting happens as I work. My process is loose and intuitive — I invent as much as I observe. I typically start with transparent washes, and add thickness and opacity as I go. I embellish and add detail in pencil, pastel or charcoal, but as often as not those marks are buried under successive washes and layers. There is tactile pleasure and esthetic gratification in scraping and scribbling into thick paint to reveal the washes and brushstrokes of earlier iterations. I choose still life elements more for their gestural shapes than for ‘beauty,’ and I use them only very loosely as models —the palette and composition of the final work reflect the mood and energy I aim to convey as much or more than the actual shapes and colors of the props and flowers. The elements I add, remove, cover, scrape or disrupt with a hard spray of water leave behind evidence of my hand and my process, as well as my thoughts and emotions.
The real subject of my work is centered in my experience of parenting: the very stillness of a still life — in contrast to the active life of my family — is at the heart of my project. Een so, though my original subject was motionless, the finished work is very active in its gesture and rhythms. My painting practice is about exploration, risk-taking, physical movement, and deep immersion in the process. When I come up for air I am often surprised by the end result.
Exhibitions
Lake Area Artists 2024 Show and Sale — April 2024
Dee Denton Gallery — March 2024
Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery | Fall & Spring Members’ Shows, 2013 — 2023
Radius Studios | Queer Art Show, June 2021
Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts | One Day Only Show, September 2020
Radius Studios | Group Show, May 2019
Sitka Center | Sitka Art Invitational, November 2015
Sitka Center | Sitka Art Invitational, November 2014
Sitka Center | Sitka Art Invitational, November 2013
Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts | “Chronicle of Influence” Invitational, June 2013
Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts | Juried Show, June 2012
Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery | New Member Show, May 2012
Professional Memberships
Lake Area Artists (juried) 2023-present
Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery (juried) 2012-present
Education
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island | Studio Arts with focus in book arts
Rhode Island School of Design | visiting student in illustration
Studied with:
• Jolyn Fry
• Andie Thrams
• Bill Park
• Phyllis Trowbridge
• Mark Andres
• Jolyn Fry
• Andie Thrams
• Bill Park
• Phyllis Trowbridge
• Mark Andres