Artist Statement

There are many things that influence my art, from the people in my life to surrounding landscapes. Like many artists, I want to hold onto beautiful moments, such as a father and child at play or a little girl in her first tap dancing class. It’s why I often work from my own treasured family photos.

While I primarily painted portraits on canvas for many years, I currently work in a variety of mediums. Never fully convinced that what I’m doing is the best way to portray a person or scene, I recently began exploring other media in an effort to continually advance my art. Today, I’m directing my energy into painting, printmaking, and digital illustration. Yet, regardless of the medium, I use solid shapes, strong lines, and bold colors to capture the energy and spirit of the subject matter.

Painting

I start by breaking down the image into several solid shapes. Then I use many layers of acrylic paint on canvas to achieve flat, solid areas of color. Even though I love this technique because it yields clean, crisp work, I strive to achieve fluidity in my paintings. My paintings have been described as a blend of realism and pop art. I have been strongly influenced by the artworks of Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman, and Alice Neel for their bold use of color and simple designs.

Serigraphs (also known as Silksceens)

I recently ventured into printmaking because this medium is perfect for my style of working with solid areas of flat colors. I use the photographic silkscreen method that starts with a photograph. I place the photograph in an Illustrator program on the computer and use it as a template to draw from. I break down the image into specific shapes and print out the design for each color on transparent inkjet film. The film is then exposed to a screen using a light table. Placing the screen over the paper and pulling a squeegee loaded with ink across the screen makes a print. Each color is printed separately, so registration is crucial. I hand pull all my silkscreen prints and use only the highest quality archival paper for each print.

Illustrations and Drawings

I use several methods to create illustrations. I still enjoy drawing with artists’ pencils or marker pens on a sketchpad. Most recently, I have been creating illustrations on the computer using Adobe’s Illustrator program. For my digital or computer illustrations, I use a stylus pen and a tablet and the many tools in the Illustrator software program. Like my silkscreens, I usually use a photograph or a drawing as a template and a reference.