Background

In my youth, I was obsessed with everything related to art - drawing, painting, sculpting, printmaking. I took every art class available, even taking weekend classes for youth at Columbus College of Art and Design, and won several scholarships and awards. I had a passion to pursue art in college, and had a portfolio in process via classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art (God bless my mother, who drove me from Columbus to Cleveland every Saturday morning for months). Alas, after much self reflection, I realized that pursing art could be a very challenging way to support myself. My “rational self“ elected to pursue a business degree, and I shelved my creative talents as I navigated the corporate world.  

After stifling my creative passions for more than a decade, I began painting again in 2002. I brushed up my skills with several incredible classes at California College of Art, and have been on a painting journey ever since. Initially, I focused on representational subject matter, primarily landscapes. I now apply those skills as I continue to develop an abstract body of work.

My paintings serve as metaphors for my life, and can be organic or linear in nature. The organic works represent my nurturing, creative side, the part of me that wants to help something or someone grow, learn, and evolve. My linear pieces represent the structure and schedule of my life – influenced as it has been with corporate and familial demands – and the resultant mayhem which occasionally ensues, represented by a torn or rough edges, or uneven lines.

In my abstract series, I apply soft sculpting techniques into my paintings – long nascent from childhood experiences with clay, sand, and even cake frosting. In these sculptural paintings, I use fine acrylic glazes as an underpainting. I then use gels and sometimes paper to build up the painting surface. I highlight and intensify the resulting textures by washing multiple thin layers of glaze over this sculpted surface. My abstracts tend to be bold, powerful, and yet calming.

In my landscape series, I gravitate toward scenes that center me and bring me peace. No surprise that wine country and nature play a role here… My landscapes entail layers upon layers of fine glazes to create depth and light.