My Art History
Fine Art Painter and Photographer
Juried Member of Women Artists of the DMV
Exhibiting Member of Van Landingham Gallery, Art in MontebelloMontebello, The Art League and Gallery 75
[email protected]
916 541 2436
"I have been making images for more than 60 years from the earliest expressions with crayons and pencils through years of drawing my schoolmates during classes.
During my 20s and 30s, I kept a camera with me much of the time and, when my communications career permitted, created black and white images that I developed and printed in the darkroom. I shall always love good black and white photography in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand, Stieglitz, Steichen, and Mann, and I still make and exhibit photographs.
My love of color and landscape and being out in nature eventually led me to give up the darkroom for paint and canvas.
My first paintings were rooted in the Impressionist tradition of painting 'en plein air' in Europe, California and Virginia inspired by Cezanne and Monet, among others. My very first painting was created on location at Washington's Mill in Mount Vernon and I was surprised and delighted to sell it.
The longer I painted, however, the more I came to appreciate good abstract paintings, which can take on a life of their own and elicit intuitive, visceral responses from the viewer. Inspired by Richard Diebenkorn, Gerard Richter, Elaine de Kooning, and Helen Frankenthaler, I turned to abstraction in order to focus on color, better distill the idea, clarify form and simplify the composition. The Washington Color School and the Abstract Expressionists of the Post War era remain powerful influences as well.
For many years, I have painted abstracted landscapes, flowers, figures, and non-objective images, and I continue to do so.
I studied art at The Art League, Alexandria, VA; University of Kansas, Lawrence; Northern Virginia Community College and San Mateo College, California. My work is included in many private and public collections and has been juried into many local, regional and national exhibits, including the groundbreaking survey Women Artists of the DMV, 2025.