About the Artist

STATEMENT

I am dedicated to painting the landscape in pastel on location, or en plein air. I love the magical dance that happens in the natural world between me, my pastels, and the ephemeral light and colors of the landscape. Painting is also an integral expression of my Buddhist practice, as the act of painting is itself a meditation for me: being fully present to this very moment of the conditions of light, color, and shadow, responding to and becoming one with the beauty that I witness, intimately interacting with the natural world where I feel, at the deepest level, that "I" am not doing anything and the painting is painting itself.

I am drawn to paint the intimate moments of beauty that I see everywhere in small glimpses of our everyday experience. I am enchanted by the patterns created by the rising sun on a new snow fall, the range and depth of color in shadows and reflected light cast by a tree on a roadside, a ray of sunlight suddenly illuminating the leaves of a birch tree, or the surprise reflection of a red maple in wetland waters.

It is these moments of beauty that I take true delight in sharing in my paintings. I hope they give the viewer some of the great joy I felt in making them. 

BACKGROUND

I have always loved to paint and draw. As a child, I drew the horses I longed to ride. I was fortunate that my artist grandmother noticed what my drawings and took me along to her painting teacher. I cherish the memory of learning to paint watercolors with Grandma and Mrs. Corey.

I took painting classes all through my school years, going on to earn a BFA in Painting from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Architecture from Yale. I practiced architecture and planning for nearly 40 years, continuing to paint whenever possible.

I eventually found my medium in the intense color, luscious mark-making, and tactile application of brilliant pigment to paper that are the hallmarks of soft pastel. I have studied with Robert Carsten, Liz Haywood-Sullivan, Terri Ford, Alain Picard, Karen Blackwood, and others. I am the founding director of the Amherst Plein Air Society, where I paint with artist friends year-round.