"I wake up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning the day a little difficult." —E.B. White
About Me
Every day I work in my pretty studio on a hill just minutes from the historic Santa Fe Plaza. It wasn’t always this way.
I enjoyed a career running and staffing non-profit historic preservation - and later arts - organizations across the country. Even though I’d been a creative kid, my real art journey didn’t begin until 2010 when I started sketching on-site using ink and ending with casual watercolor washes as part of the international Urban Sketching movement. I rediscovered my love of drawing.
Soon I started filling travel sketchbooks; my frequent international trips are enhanced by capturing travel memories and observations with ink and watercolor. I still sketch often but I've expanded into painting with watercolors or acrylics, often combined with wax pastels, soft pastels or ink. Using a lively mix of patterns, saturated colors and rich details, my intention is to make art that sparks joy.
My paintings are also the basis for a number of popular artisan goods - including cards, enamel pins, and art prints - carried in museum shops and retail shops around New Mexico, California and Texas.
Putting a smile on my buyers’ faces is my goal, especially during these difficult times! I’ve been told that my paintings are like capturing laughter. I can’t think of a better compliment.
Examples of My Work
Fun Facts
- • Hang Gliding – Did it one afternoon. Over sand dunes. The landings still hurt. Think: bird dropping from the sky.
- • Fave place I’ve ever painted – it's a tie between 1 of the villages in Cinque Terra and Giverny where Monet lived.
- • Best Compliment Ever - "When you walk into a room, it's like opening a bottle of champagne."
- • Guilty Little Secret – I love McDonald’s french fries and think kale is over-rated. Don’t judge.
- • Travel – I’ve been to all but two U.S. states. I guarantee they’re not the two you will guess.
More About Me
What do you wish you could tell your younger artist self?
"Actually, you WILL eventually learn to draw." From the time I was in elementary school through high school, I doodled and practiced drawing a lot, but it never quite came together in spite of all my practice. Fast forward several decades, and when I started Urban Sketching 14 years ago, I finally learned to draw pretty darn well.
What one (art) item can you not do or go without?
My tube of periwinkle paint.
Which artist (famous or not) has influenced you the most and how?
Late 19th/early 20th century French artists Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse. Both use color in breathtaking and joyful ways, include beautiful patterns and gestures in their pieces, and I've never seen a piece of theirs that didn't make me smile out loud.