As an observer and self taught artist, I am driven to express my creative spirit by experimenting with watercolor, acrylic, pastel, and oil painting. My compulsion to seek out different subjects, via landscapes, still life, flowers, portraits, and animals, allows me to explore different ways of painting. I consider my style to be contemporary realism with impressionist undertones, but it is still evolving and ever changing. As the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, once said, “I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Because of my insatiable desire to learn new things, I taught myself to paint by studying art books and art history, visiting museums and galleries, particularly those in Italy, France and Spain, and observing nature. I believe that the creative experience is a universal one, not just for those who go to art school or are trained by well known artists, but part of experiencing life and interacting with it. Because art is not confined to a picture frame, as it exists all around us, I find inspiration for painting in simple things, a pear, an iris, an old rusty truck, and in the mountains, canyons, and river that surround my home in Jemez Springs. My artwork reflects a quiet sensibility and a love of beauty and nature. I have been a teacher of gifted students and a teacher in a regular classroom, as well as a children’s art teacher and piano teacher; and believe that we all have an intrinsic degree of creativity that should be nourished and developed. Born and raised in New Mexico, (Bernalillo), I moved to California to attend college and remained there to work. However, I have always maintained close ties with New Mexico as all my family still live here and have for at least 8 generations. For the past 18 years, I have maintained a home in Jemez Springs as well as in California. Jemez Springs is a haven for me to transcend daily pressures and experience peace in a place where a slower pace invites reflection and creativity.
All art work on this site is copyrighted by the artist and may not be copied or reproduced in any way without the express written permission of the artist.
Education:
BA- Mount St. Mary’s College, Brentwood, CA
Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development (CLAD) Professional Multi Subject Teaching Credential, California State University, Fullerton
Certificate in Gifted Education, CSU, Fullerton