Biography
I have been exploring art from an early age but only in the past few years have I been drawn to the watercolor challenge. So much magic can happen with this medium. Expanding my repertoire of painting techniques is my current focus. It is a rare day when I do not pick up a paint brush!
My grandfather was a wildlife artist and probably gave me my first art supplies. Instruction began for me at the Art Institute of Chicago but then life took over and although I kept an art hand in through the years it was only after retirement that I began to pick up my brushes again, with the emphasis on COLOR! Nature is always an inspiration. I am an outside person, avid gardener, walker and nature lover. The luck of living in a wooded area with a couple of ponds supplies limitless subjects.
Gallery
Support for Conservation:
My husband and I own prairie and wetland property in a conservation stewardship program. Removing non-native and invasive species as well as establishing native trees and plants is a continuing goal. We are active members of The Land Conservancy of McHenry County and their annual seed gathering program. My artwork has been featured in TLC’s annual Art of the Land sale/exhibit with donated commissions and I regularly donate art for auction to benefit this group. In 2016 I was the top selling artist for TLC. Friends of Volo Bog is another membership I maintain and for which my paintings in their annual Bogs in Art exhibit/sale (images must depict bog plants) result in donated commissions. McHenry County Conservation District and McHenry County Audubon are other local associatiosn to which I have donated art for auction to benefit the group. Participation in programs offered by each of these groups and charitable conributions to them is ongoing.
“Nature is my inspiration” has long been true as to my watercolor paintings. Even the surface – Terraskin paper – is an ecologically friendly product as it is made from stone and not paper. My method is to pour a background and then look for a subject which is always nature. Raised in the country, the daughter of a veterinarian and granddaughter of a wildlife artist, their loves were early and continuing influences.
