All About Me
Central Virginia has always been my home. I grew up with the river and mountains nearby and a love for animals, flowers, landscapes. . . all the things I love to paint. There were always plenty of animals. . . dogs, cats, horses, chickens, most anything with four legs. My sister Bonnie had a garden with beautiful flowers she nurtured. She gave me the appreciation for flowers and their beauty. Many days were spent fishing on the James River or just riding through the mountains enjoying the beauty of the land.
As a child, I was always able to do pencil drawings. My dad, who was an 'unknown' artist, introduced me to charcoal and bought my first set of pastels for Christmas in 1968. I still have all the drawings and pastels done as a child. In fact, I still have the pieces of my original pastels.
Life interrupted my joy of art from 1972 until 1996. That year, I saw an ad for watercolor classes in the local newspaper. So, I took the class and found that painting with watercolor to be such a beautiful way to express the beauty of all the things around me. It has the ability to capture the smallest of details along with the darkest shadows and brightest of lights.
Due to time constraints, painting from photographs is how I am able to achieve such accurate detail. The light and shadows in a photograph also never change as they would if I were set up outside trying to paint a scene. Having photographs allows me to visually see my subject and focus on it at different times during the day or night.
My husband, Greg is my greatest motivator and supporter. We live in the mountains of Amherst County, Virginia with a view of the mountains all around. Our fur-kids are two Yorkshire Terriers named Carley Doodles and Miterra Boo (Chubba Chubba), our British Shorthair cat Loki . . . and, most recently, a Cairn Terrier named Mandy . . .who are my constant companions while I paint in the studio. When not painting, I tend my Iris garden or take time to drive the backroads of Virginia looking for subjects to photograph for future paintings.
