I am drawn into the art world by way of color and design.  What excites me most is how images flow into one another and interweave themselves to form new patterns.  My art making has been greatly influences by my extended background in custom sewing, costume design and quilt making.  By incorporating these strong influences into my painting, I am able to create new colorful textures and compositions.  This is most evident in my ongoing series of teapot and pitcher still life’s, which combine some of my favorite ingredients in life: ceramics collected from travels, luscious fabrics, seasonal flowers, fruits and personal memorabilia.

Recently, my Muse has been telling me to fabricate artwork depicting “Tapestries of Society”.  It has been a struggle deciding on the process; which media, which techniques, which tools.  Images from this group are from my recent trip to France.  They are a collage of buildings, mausoleums, statues, people, tents, religious symbols, bric-a-brac, merchandise, flora and fauna.  I start with digital images from my trip and then pick out segments in these pictures to weave together in a fluid composition using various drawing and painting techniques.  They are works on paper incorporation acrylics, oil pastel, crayon, ink and gesso in various ways.  The mood is highly active, charged with color, light, dark negative space and a sense of frivolity.  Each picture has a distinctive theme: they vary from religious, personal, architectural, a rice festival, and town images.

I am also working in this style on a series of paintings of San Francisco.  I am taking walking tours given by volunteers associated with the Public Library System.  So far, I’ve completed visuals from Market Street, the Ferry Building, Nob Hill and the Financial District.  More to come!