I grew up in Staten Island, NY where I often visited my grandparents’ home that was filled with framed still life, landscape and seaside paintings by family and friends. Most of these paintings were painted on Cape Cod where my grandparents built a summer home in the 1930’s. I remember painting with my grandmother at easels she had set up in her living room. I took many art lessons as a child and many studio art classes in high school, college and after. Despite my love of art, I chose to major in biology in college and had a career in medical technology, information technology and web design.
In 2010 I took my first pastel class with Barbara Stone on the Cape. I fell in love with the pure color and versatility of pastels and worked exclusively with them for several year I eventually expanded to watercolors, oils and acrylic and found more reasons to keep painting as each medium had its enticing characteristics.
Initially much of my work focused on landscape painting, I particularly loved plein air painting on the Cape in the spring, summer and fall months. More recently my work has become more exploratory through working with different media, learning new painting techniques and a lot of interpretation of subject matter beyond the literal. I am still evolving you might say.
The pandemic gave me the time and opportunity to explore different directions. I feel this period of my art career has allowed me to better understand the motivation and inspiration many of the well known artists of the past and present and has helped me find new areas I want to focus on with my art.
I have been living primarily in Brewster, MA since the pandemic. I paint in a little shed/studio in my backyard during the milder months – I call it Flying Mist Studio. I was a member of Turtle Studios in Newton, MA for several years and studied watercolor with Joel Janowitz in his South End Studio while living in Boston.
Education
2006, Web Design Certificate Program, Rhode Island School of Design
1992, MSCIS, Computer Information Systems, Bentley College
1973, BA, Biology, Skidmore College
Art Workshops/Classes
Oil: Rosalie Nadeau, Carol Maguire, Paul Schulenburg, Adriano Farenelli, Marc Hanson, Mary Alice Eisenberg
Watercolor: Joel Janowitz, Bill Commerford, Catherine Garnett, Robert Mesrop
Pastels: Barbara Stone, Tony Allian, Alain Picard, Laurinda O’Connor, Rosalie Nadeau, Jeanne Rossier-Smith
Acrylics: Emily Passman, Lisa Daria Kennedy
Mixed Media: Amy Wynne
Awards
2021, First Place in Watercolors, “Dune Path”, Members’ Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2020, Second Place in Pastels, “Pear Party”, Members’ Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2020, First Place in Watercolors, “Taboret” - All Cape Art Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2018 First Place, Cape Cod Art Center – A Class Act – Barbara Stone (pastels)
2017 Second Place, Cape Cod Art Center – A Class Act – Barbara Stone (pastels
2015 - Honorable Mention, Cape Cod Art Center – A Class Act – Barbara Stone (pastels)
Exhibitions of Note
2021, Members’ Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2021, All Cape Cod Art Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2021, Bouffants & Bouquets (Group Show), Evie Salon Studio, Sommerville MA
2020, Members’ Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2020, All Cape Cod Art Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2020, MJ1 - Members’ Show, Concord Art Association
2019, All Cape Cod Art Show, Creative Arts Center, Chatham, MA
2019, Reinvented (Group Show), Gallery 263, Cambridge MA
Memberships
Cape Cod Art Center. Barnstable, MA
Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
Creative Center for the Arts Chatham, MA
Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod
Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
Rockport Art Association, Rockport, MA