Inspiration for many of my paintings comes from the shore line in southern Rhode Island.  My studio is there, and I spent most of the pandemic in Narragansett, painting 3-4 days a week, interrupted by the three days I see clients.  Music, especially dance music, gets me out of my head and into the painting.  Standing at my easel I leave behind all the sadness I take in as a psychologist specializing in trauma.  Some people work their pain into their art.  I need the opposite.  Painting brings me back to beauty and joy.

My paintings start with multiple sketches to establish the composition and values.  Although I do some still life and plein air painting, lately my subjects are a composite of many reference photos to obtain the feel that I want in a painting.  This is especially true in my seagull paintings.  They won’t pose for me.  

I paint because I have to.  It is my passion, and it’s what centers me.   I love the way it lets me get lost in it, losing track of time.  During the pandemic I was able to give my art more concentrated attention.  Where before I was a psychologist first, painting on the weekends.  Now my priorities have flipped and I’m adjusting my reduced work schedule around painting.  Painting has changed how I look at the world, and how I am in the world.  And there’s no going back.

I began painting watercolors in the mid 1990’s, studying at the Danforth Museum School.  Rosetta Nasisi was a great teacher who inspired me to expand my vision.  I worked with her for many years.  In 2002 painting was set aside for more than a decade while I spent all my energy advocating for childhood abuse survivors.   I rediscovered painting when I began studying with Lorena Pugh in late 2014, this time in oil.   As I continue to work with Lori I have been taking classes and workshops with many fabulous master painters.  Hopefully, what is emerging is my own style.  It is truly a work in progress.  But what a wonderful journey.