My work stems from a combination of energy and stillness. It’s bound together by color and sensation, of some illusive memory trapped inside. All work starts from this anxious place, listening, observing and letting go. Whether the materials are paper, acrylic, pencil, or chalk, the motivation is the same. My best work starts with play and exploration. Once started, familiar abstracted shapes, drawn and painted lines connect. In making the work, the forms take shape, and all the aberrant pieces fall into place like a puzzle. I find I land in a place like meditation…quiet yet energized, focused yet open.  

Whether the series starts with meditation, or the focus is on a particular color or I’m assembling small squares in fixed geometry, or printing familiar images of flora and fauna, the process results in completed pieces that connect sensation to a feeling, or place in time. These images are always a surprise to me.

Working in a series helps me follow through on one idea until it’s completed. Then I wait and move on to something new.

I often wonder if the viewer can see the tension or feel the resolve, the balance of energy and joy in my art.

Because I live in California across from the San Francisco Bay, I am influenced by the ocean, the sun and our wonderful moderate weather. My childhood included growing up in an artistic family, so I was influenced by my father, an abstract expressionist painter and my mother who had a ‘good eye’ for beautiful things.

I have taught art in elementary through high school choosing these ages with the hopes of giving the younger generation a start in creativity. Over the years, I have owned an art gallery, coached creativity for new and seasoned artists and served on boards of numerous community nonprofits, museums and art centers. Lately I’ve taken up writing to produce three books while working on two more.

Now, I try to pass on what I’ve learned about creativity and my own artistic journey to others through mentoring, coaching and writing.

I’ve learned we all share similar fears and desires…that is, to be heard and seen. Art is one way in which to do exactly that.