About the Artist

I am so fortunate to live in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, surrounded by Redwood forests on one side, grassy chaparral on the other, and marshy baylands on the other. And just over the hill are Coastal Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur!  I love to ride my bike around the local hills, watching the seasons work their magic on the landscape. 

I've been making art all my life and have been painting seriously for 20 plus years, ever since I discovered pastel. The type I use is called soft pastel. It looks like chalk but is oh so much better than chalk! I love that it is pure pigment. The richness and the beauty of marks I can make with pastel mesmerize me. I also love that it's fully hands on, no tools between me and my medium. I do also enjoy painting in oils. 

I love to paint on location – en plein air – whenever I can, and my plein air paintings are often my favorites.The changing light doesn't allow time for precision, strokes are loose and full of energy.  I feel like the vibrancy of the setting, and my excitement over what I'm seeing, really shows through in those plein air paintings.  Other times I'll go out for a bike ride, get inspired, and snap some photos on the way. (This makes it really hard to keep up with my friends who are all very strong riders! But its all worth it). Ideally I'll begin painting those images within a couple of days, while the feeling of that place and moment is still with me.

Besides making art, I'm a proud mom of two pretty awesome young adults, and I'm a Medical Social Worker at Kaiser Permanente.

"Setting Sun on the Cliffs" and "Red Barn with Lupin" were painted en plein air.