Calling myself an artist is relatively new to me. I spent many years fitting art-making in around being a mother, a teacher, an entrepreneur, and an advocate for women and girls. All of that wonderful work inspires my art now.
In art as in nature, beauty and joy can be found in the most subtle of places. My paintings often include an icon from another part of my life: a drawing from a Zambian woman, a new way to use materials taught to me by one of my young students, a bird seen outside of my window, cloud formations noticed while doing other work.
The rock portraits are from photographs taken on a long-ago hiking trip with my family in the Sierra Nevada. The initial drawing hiding underneath each painting is a chiaroscuro made with conte crayons. Using Rembrandt’s technique of sfumato, and his very earthy palette, I have brought my rocks to life by building up 20-30 translucent layers to give them a rich texture.