Welcome

II was in the fifth grade when my parents bought me my first set of oil paints. With my new tools in-hand and at the tender age of eleven, I was ready to

start painting. Discovering an art contest that I saw in a magazine, I seized the opportunity to throw my hat into the ring and submitted the required

drawing of a cartoon character that appeared in the advertisement. I knew then that I wanted to be an artist.

At about the same time, my family moved from Upper Arlington, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, to the country so that my father could satisfy a life-long

desire to develop a family farm and live a quieter life. In that small rural community, I was fortunate to have had an art teacher in middle school who

believed in me and encouraged me. I am grateful to have had so many instructors who inspired me to create, taught me to trust my instincts, and

motivated me to explore different mediums and ways to express myself. At the age of 16, I began my formal art studies at The Ohio State University. For practical reasons, I set my artwork aside to pursue a different career path, but interestingly enough, my artistic need to create never set me aside. Returning to OSU some years later, I completed my studies in Anthropology, specializing in Archeology, and picked up my paint brushes once again, as well as a few other new tools.

I am deeply engaged in allowing my artistry to flow, and I enjoy story telling through my work. My paintings share personal moments in my life journey, expressing and capturing a feeling, or sharing a vision. Today, I consider myself a multi-media artist frequently working in acrylic, oil, pastel and watercolor. I explore medium boundaries and their relationships with non-traditional surfaces such as watercolor on a synthetic surface and oil pastel on a stretched canvas. Presently, I am embarking on an exploration to create works on canvas I weave myself, using various strings, ropes, twines comprised of both natural and man-made materials. My vision for this work is to allow the surface to create the texture and an impasto-like affect that is not created by the medium but by the varying thicknesses and fibers. 

Moving back to Ohio four years ago,I began to paint a series I call the “Three Trees” series. This body of work comprises 11 paintings, acrylic on stretched canvas, documenting my pandemic story and the many life changes not only driven by the pandemic itself but also resulting from a relocation, caring for my family, and my elderly father. I held an Open Studio Exhibit in April 2024 where I showed my “Three Trees” series along with 18 other pieces representing my journey as a multi-media artist. 

Presently, I have completed six works in a new series which I have simple titled “Joy.” The purpose of this series is to express joy and inspiration, to touch the viewer with a gentle embrace, and to share stories inspiring hope. In the first painting, also titled “Joy”, I experimented with an innovative technique by using a hotel room key card as my painting implement for the entire piece. At first the card seemed rigid and limiting, yet I found it to invite fluidity, energy, and freedom in my work as I learned through application to overcome my initial perceptions of its limitations. Four of my recent works have been created entirely by using a hotel room key card as my painting tool of choice, thus continuing my exploration to find new and ever-changing ways of expression and allowing change to become part of my artist’s vision.