An Artist's Bio
I have only recently allowed myself to pursue my art not as a sideline but as a priority. Since a death-defying bout with breast cancer I realized many new things. One was that I had really never allowed myself to prioritize what I really wanted to do—make art. Everything else always came first—customarily a woman’s, wife’s, and mother’s circumstance.
I studied interior design in college, but never did much with that degree as I immediately married, and had three sons (very artistic kids, I might add) and life passed by very quicky. We moved quite a bit so my own career development was hampered. While raising kids I dabbled in photography, fiber, metal, glass and all sorts of crafty things. Being an academician’s spouse I always had access to university art classes so I took advantage of the opportunities but family responsibilities and duties at home were always the priority most of my life.
In my forties I fell into a career as an arts administrator where I ran an art education community center for children, adults and students on a university campus. I did this for some years. In the early 90s I created a very successful kids’ summer arts program and after school program. During that time I was awarded an internship with the Pennsylvania Council of the Art in Arts Management. This period set me in the art world, but I was focused on everybody’s else art.
I moved to North Carolina in 2003. Two months after I got here I discovered I had breast cancer. I was 56 and maybe at the end of my life. What had I accomplished? It was then I realized the necessity of pursuing my own artistic self. Art has always been the constant thread so I made the conscience decision to devote myself to developing my own skills. I built a studio over the garage to house all my artistic endeavors.
Watercolor is my current passion. It came to be because those are the classes that are available to me here in Washington, NC. Plus I had dabbled with it before as the medium for architectural renderings required of me in my college major. I had some familiarity with it. Conveniently, the local community college offered classes. I studied there a few years under various instructors. I found painting with watercolor very satisfying.
My current mentor is Jeffrey Jakub, current president of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina. I admire him for his work and manner with which he shares his mastery of the media of watercolor. He has given me great insight into my technique and vision. His critiques have made me grow and his opinions regarding my work have given me confidence as I confront the challenges of being a watercolorist. He has been an impetus to my getting my art in front of the people.
My natural tendency is to paint as I see it and my downfall is that I can paint only what I see. I cannot make it up. My desires are to paint with looser interpretations, gain the ability to paint what isn’t there and edit a final product. The onus for me is learning to see, knowing what I see, and committing it all to paper satisfactorily. I want to master the rules so I can prudently break those rules when I paint. Every time I paint I learn something new about myself, the medium and the subject.
Even though I have a studio I paint in my bedroom on an old wooden chemistry lab table taken from a college dumpster some 30 years ago. I avoid the studio because it is currently very cluttered with former “lives” (metalry, glass, fiber, oil and acrylic, books, etc) that I haven’t gleaned out my life yet. I guess I don’t want to. Besides, I love getting up some days at 4 AM, painting in my nightgown at the foot of my bed, listening to the birds wake up.
I am a member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina.
