My Southern California roots inspire the bold saturated color of

my watercolor paintings. While I seek to evoke my feelings of “nouns”

(persons, places, and things), I do not try to recreate, but to record

how the subjects’ color touches me. Using yellow-based pigment to

begin my painting, I try to convey a warm sunny glow throughout. I am

more interested in happy feelings than in a somber, moody piece.

Excitement describes my initial beginning and I try to continue that

energy throughout the painting. I do not rely on spatial interpretations

to define my pictures, but rather use color and line to move the eye

around my composition. Included in my treatments are details put in

as loosely and simply as possible. I am intrigued with buildings, as

owners think of them as their “babies”. I interpret them as building

portraits. I do love the beach as I grew up seeing people on the beach

and in the water. It renews in me the whimsical, colorful side of us. I

would like to invite the viewer to come inside my paintings and take a

look around instead of standing outside observing from a distance.

Bio

I was born in Long Beach and grew up in Downey, California where

I was encouraged in art by a friend of my mothers. I started drawing

pastel portraits at age 10. Throughout school I took art classes, having

my first one man show in high school. I went to Long Beach State

College, California as an Art major. During the same time period, I

attended Cerritos College as a pre-med and Art major. I then went to

the University of Southern California and received a B.S. degree in

Dental Hygiene.

After getting married and having two children, I still painted part

time, took workshops and entered juried shows. After we moved to

Utah in 1995 and my children graduated from college, I earnestly

started painting.