Why do I paint?

To delineate an interpretation of the visual world is a process of comprehending the balance, tensions, and wonder of life. Degas said, “Painting is not what you see but what you make others see.” When I paint the landscape tension is created as I strive to portray reality as faithfully as possible within an environment that is constantly changing. Painting helps me to connect with the beauty and immense genius beyond even that which can be seen. To capture the gentle angle of a particular branch or express the glimmer of light dancing across a plume of foliage is but a reflection of a yearning for something more.

    There is an unquenchable desire to grasp at this sense of reality, meaning, and eternity alluded to by this scene in front of me. The study of rejuvenation and decay finds its balance in humanity. The Missouri landscape, so characteristic of its rolling hills and deep penetration of green, is enthralling. Cezanne once said, “Painting from nature is not copying the object but realizing one’s sensations.” To see and study nature, to analyze, to somehow capture it on canvas, is exciting and animates me. I seek to bring a sense of what has been before my time and what will continue to be after it, to my work.

     I have found great inspiration in artists such as Cezanne and Monet.  More recent artists include the works and thoughts of Wilbur Niewald, Wolf Kahn, and Stanley Lewis. I seek to emulate what seems to me to be a faithful search in one’s painting, thinking, and being.

Bio

Art as a comrade has defined my life since memory serves. Life and time happen-art remains a constant. I dabbled in various disciplines landing on painting; landscapes, nature, creation as my gesture of peace. 

            I majored at the University of Kansas in illustration, a beautiful expression, but not for me. It was my junior year when I headed off to England for a year. I was exposed to great painters in Europe that I had seen only in books. While there I encountered my spiritual side which connected well with art. I knew at that point that I needed to paint what I see, what reality presents, the symmetry of things.

            I moved to Kansas City and studied with Stanley Lewis, Michael Walling, and Wilbur Niewald at the Kansas City Art Institute, a pivotal point in my development. I was introduced to plein air painting which I love. Solace, study, and observation through painting; the challenge of creating three-dimensional space on my canvas. It’s never quite adequate.

            I worked at the Ford Learning Center and discovered a love for working with children in their artistic development. After KCAI I was an art instructor at a variety of places such as the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA, and the Fillmore Arts Center in Washington, DC. Returning to KC I taught lower and upper school art at Whitefield Academy while raising my seven children with my husband.

            I have recently moved my art studio to the Livestock Exchange Building though much of my time is spent painting outdoors. My work has appeared in solo and group shows in the Kansas City area.