Artist Point of View

I began working with oil pastels in 1992 after transitioning from watercolor and pen and ink.

I was attracted to oil pastel’s rich and vibrant colors and the challenge in working with a medium that was very difficult to control. Over the years I have developed techniques and tools to use that have enabled me to realize the results I envision.

As an artist I am most at home when in the process of creation - working and conceptualizing with line, color and form. An inspiration or an idea for a piece always leads me to consider-ations of structure, composition, and balance. It is into this architecture that I willingly wander, to cultivate the intuitive and the spontaneous, and the evolving relationship between the elements on the paper or board before me.

Much of my art reflects impressions of Sonoma County, where I have lived for most of my adult life. The work often draws a perspective looking down, from above, at patterns, shapes and forms that are a part of this area’s unique and changing landscape.

I work with oil pastel, ready to take advantage of their brilliant, and rich colors, always engaged in the challenging application of blending and layering colors mostly with my fingers. My work explores the relationship between light and shadow, river and sea, orchard and vineyard. The viewer soars over tapestries of texture and color, and glimpses in the landscape a mixture of defined yet wild space.

What has started out as a vision has turned into a friendly and comforting place for the eye to rest, while the mind continues to take flight.