I am delighted that you have chosen to visit my website and to learn more about me.  Why do I paint? I do it because it gives me joy. Secondly, it gives me a way to communicate to others in a language I understand. Thirdly, it is challenging.  It takes time to get better at a skill and I find the challenges rewarding. I am curious about this natural world and wanted to learn more. I appreciate the beauty of the American rural landscape and frankly other places I have traveled in the world.  It is these images in my mind that develop into many of my paintings.

I have been juried into many local art shows in the Mid-Atlantic region and have had success in selling original oil paintings.

As a child I grew up in rural Maryland with images such as farms, silos, 1800 year old buildings, fields of green and the Blueridge Mountains as a backdrop.  As a child I was a careful observer of nature, for example, often staring at the sky as the clouds made shadows on the earth.  Over the years, art classes were my favorite.  I received a bachelor’s degree in Art at Harding University and a master’s degree in Art Therapy at The George Washington University in D.C.  Occasionally I take advantage of oil painting workshops (e.g., Peter Fiore).

The landscape is my inspiration, endlessly changing because of light, movement, erosion, weather, and humans’ interactions with the landscape.  Subject matter in my paintings often come from landscapes in the Mid-Atlantic region in which I grew up, as well as places I have traveled.  Worthy subjects to paint are everywhere though.  One just needs an artistic eye and vision.  At this time, I paint solitary landscapes, usually devoid of people, and enjoy the challenge of rendering architecture, such as historical chapels, churches, houses, and barns.  My painting process focuses on capturing light and mood, as it changes during the day and through the seasons.  Furthermore, I deliberately capture movement in some paintings, as seen through line, shape, brush stroke, and repetition. For example, rendering an invisible force such as wind, can evoke feelings and stimulate imagery of what it might be like to stand in that painting at that moment.  I like to think of my paintings as my impressions of nature.

I believe my painting ability has developed through many hours of practice in my studio, art classes and workshops.  I find the development of a painting both challenging and enjoyable.  I want others to see how light (e.g., its warmness/coolness, intensity, direction) is reflected on various objects and how light influences the colors of those objects. Light, or absence of light, communicates a mood.

In conclusion, I believe art is a visual communication to be shared for others to enjoy.  I hope others will see beauty in the landscapes, and will receive pleasure from their observations.   Hopefully, my style and art product will stimulate conversation and good memories in others, for years to come, long after I am gone.