Born and raised in New Mexico, in a very hardworking and middle class family, I was totally enthralled to discover art in high school. I was lucky to have a wonderful teacher who opened all the doors for me. I went on to UNM and to exploring every aspect of art. Over the years I have done weaving, jewelry, sculpture, pottery, silk screen and of course painting. Painting is my main focus now, but I have a strong draw to three dimensional art. I love constructing mixed media pieces. Day of the Dead is one of my great loves, so of course I have created many flamboyant and less than traditional skulls to celebrate the tradition. I frequently build off the wall pieces from random junk, which I find taps into a very different part of my brain than two dimensional art.
My painting has transitioned over the years from realistic to abstract. I enjoy the freedom of abstract painting, and for me the bigger and brighter and more colorful the better.
I consistently show my work at Mariposa Gallery here in Albuquerque and have had several one woman shows there. I have been a part of a number of multi artist shows at a variety of galleries. I was a featured artist at Masks y Mas last Day of the Dead show, which led to a lovely article in the Albuquerque Journal about my skulls and other art.
New Mexico is home, even though I have lived other places and contemplate living still other places. I have a lovely and talented daughter who is carrying on the creative tradition and a grandson who rocks skull art. My son in law is not an artist but he puts up with rampant creativity in the rest of us. I love hiking, books, traveling, cats and of course all things art.
Artist Statement
Abstract art comes from some deep, unknown place within and grows from there. The hardest part is to get my mind out of the way and let the painting fly free. I frequently think I have an idea I may try, this never ever actually works. I work with acrylics because I am impatient to see what is coming. I love vivid colors so the majority of my work is large and brightly colored, although there have been some very dark ones. My process is always to start with a layer of color just to cover the bright white of the canvas. There is rarely any evidence of this first layer. A painting often has many layers of paint. Sometimes I wash a layer off to return to a former layer. Sometimes I dig through and allow the marks to remain and other layers to show through. I use a combination of utility paint brushes and palette knives.
I often think my work is non objective yet I believe life factors are always involved, sadness, happiness, even stress in the night. There are never themes but some paintings have more shapes, some flow, some have more active color. They must all have energy. There is nothing more exciting in art than the feeling inside when the creative energy begins to flow and it is all happening.
