I received my B.A. in Studio Art from Smith College in 1981. I moved to France subsequently and continued my education in French Civilization, Fine Arts, and Culinary Arts. After moving back to the US in 1985, I worked in numerous businesses and raised a family. In 2014 after my children had left for college, I was able to focus on my art once again. I have held two solo shows at the Fred Schnider Gallery of Art in Arlington, VA in 2018 and 2020 and a few groups shows over the years. I look forward to joining a network of artists and becoming inspired as well and inspire. I work predominantly in mix-media. I like to work on a large scale, apply paint in layers to produce rich textural surfaces, and build up intensity through the physicality of the gestures used in the application of the paint on the canvas. The process is akin to solving a puzzle. One mark will lead to another, which will then lead to a different mark or texture on another part of the canvas until the work is resolved. Nothing is planned unconditionally. I may start with one painting and end with another. While working, I envision narratives: a type of visual dialog between the forms and textures on the canvas. I am inspired by nature and often begin with a landscape, but the work frequently leaves behind the traditional notion of landscape painting and moves into the contemporary through the process of building up layer upon layer of paint and texture. Representational forms become paired down - almost abstracted. In all of this - a strong sense of symbolism remains in my work. The paintings with a grouping of trees painted in a muted palette are in a quiet ballet - a dance that echoes the dance between individuals. The focus on the rich texture of the trunks of trees (not leaves, branches, or roots) further strengthens the sense that the trees are also figures. The application of found tree bark to the layers of paint creates another underlying tension in the work, as the textures become an intrinsic part of the painting. My paintings are objects, which also carry symbolic weight. They hold a dialog between the past and the present.