About
I am an abstract painter located in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate NY. I am a wife and mama to two beautiful daughters. I have always felt closely connected to art and creativity and over the years have learned that it is necessary to my well-being. After graduating college with a degree in Environmental Science, and craving creativity, I decided to obtain my Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture and currently run my own design business Painted Leaf Landscape Design.
I spend a lot of time outdoors around natural materials – it’s where I collect much of my inspiration for my artwork. I’m drawn to interesting patterns, textures, organic forms, color combinations, etc. I jot them down “shorthand” – sometimes in a sketchbook or whatever scrap of paper I have on hand. I think of my sketchbooks as an ‘ingredients list’ that I will later use to ‘cook’ with in a painting. I also enjoy trail running and inevitably end up picking up bits of nature such as branches, leaves, seed pods, etc. These collections are kept around my painting space to help ignite creativity and sometimes make their way into a collage.
I’m still developing – and learning what my “process” is. I suspect (and hope) that it will always be evolving. Presently, I’ve been working on painting “intuitively” to create abstract pieces that are informed by a combination of my inspiration gatherings and what happens with the paint in the moment. I find it a wonderful, sometimes frustrating, challenge to bring those two things together.
I work in many layers of acrylic paint and have more than one canvas going at a time – to allow time for layers to dry and/or to move on if I’m feeling stuck. In winter months (when it’s cold in my studio) I work with Encaustics – using layers of melted pigmented beeswax on wood boards to create abstract collages.
My long-term goal as an artist is to be able to evoke that spark I feel when I’m inspired into a painting of my own authentic style – somewhere between literal and abstract.