In a world of magnificent mountains and bountiful beaches, nature blends patterns and colors in tide marks, layers of earth and microscopic land forms. The bottom of the ocean floor, surf foam coming to shore, the texture of tree bark and melting ice emerge on my canvases inspiring a soulful, ethereal sense of design, colour and paint application.
Raised in the Pennsylvania country-side, most of my days were spent in the forest alone; hours would pass, as I closely examined the forest floor and grass fields. Moss patches provided an enchanting setting for my childhood collage creations of tree bark and twigs. As a third generation artist, my mother inspired me to explore color and texture. My father, a chemical engineer, influenced my fascination with nature and micro-elements of the earth.
Micro-impressions of the natural world still inform my art vision, as images are expanded 1000%. The years of teaching art, painting murals and creating artworks, provided me opportunities to explore many art techniques. Multi-mediums of watercolor, oil encaustics, mono-print, chalk pastels, graphite, acrylic paint mediums, gold and silver leaf are all my “favorite” mediums. I combine multi-mediums, always keeping in mind the media requirements to create stable yet visually rich, textured, works of art.
As the years progressed, I have lived close to the sea walls of Vancouver, Canada and now the lakes and mountains of Los Angeles. My love of color and the micro world of nature continues for over 40 years to inform a captivating, thematic influence in my present day art work
My current series, “Nature Close-Up” is inspired by patterns in tide marks, colors of sea grasses, as well as layers of earth. I keep extensive working journals and document my art processes with my own photos, sketches, color samples and notes. These microscopic enlarged images are expanded fully onto canvases and papers using mediums of oil encaustic, acrylic paint, chalk pastels, string and gold leaf.
The atmosphere or the “air” around the object, micro textures of old growth forests, desert landscapes, icy mountain strata and sandy beaches are transformed into strata of color on color, whimsical washes and multi- layered encaustic mediums. Chunks of vibrantly colored acrylic paints are placed next to delicate, dribbles of gold leaf to merge as a luxurious visual images.
Often my collectors tell me they experience a meaningful, deep sense of calm from viewing my “White on White” paintings. When I create the white on white art, its like painting a meditation yoga session among rainbows and brings sense of visual silence. These serene, white, minimal atmospheric ocean-scapes capture nature’s simplicity with grace and elegance.
“Nature Closeup” expresses a soulful, ethereal sense of design. My desire is to share in my artworks, a visually healing meditation on nature and environmental beauty.
My art is found in private and corporate collections in Canada and US, including the Mattel Corporation, Cambie Surgery and PDG Dental Group.