About the Artist
Stanley Kunitz says so well what being an artist means to me. ____
“When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your presence, your fugitive presence, inevitably you think of your art, whatever it may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgment of the gift you have been given, which is life itself. And I think the world tends to forget that this is the ultimate significance of the body of work each artist produces. That work is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, or prizes, but the deepest manifestation of your gratitude for the gift of life.”
The Wild Braid, A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden
Artist Statement: I awake each day to the gift of life and the unending beauty that surrounds me. I am absorbed in the shapes and colors of a blade of grass, a flower petal…the human figure, mountains, fields and streams. Each day I celebrate the extraordinary in the ordinary through painting. I thrill to the challenges and surprises that develop in each painting. The privilege of sensing life and letting it flow through my fingers and onto canvas is joyful!
My love of painting began during my high school years. I was fortunate to receive formal studio art instruction from the first lady of Memphis art, Florence McIntyre. I remember her as a strict and dedicated instructor of oil painting. It was Ms. McIntyre’s artistic vision and lifetime dedication to the arts that helped shape the Memphis art community.
Later, I chose a career in education and received a B.S in Education and M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision. Throughout the years as an educator and engaged in a busy family life, however, I dreamed I would return to painting someday. In 2005, I had a liver transplant and this profound experience gave me renewed spirit and courage to embark on an intensive pursuit of a career in painting. After all, how many people get a second chance in life to pursue their passion?
To this end, I carefully select and study with contemporary masters whose work I admire: Jeff Legg, Dawn Whitelaw, Roger Dale Brown, and Qiang Huang to name a few. In addition, I continue my studies through instructional videos and books by master artists.
I paint exclusively in oil and I paint daily in my studio in Germantown, Tennessee.