About

   All of my aRt involves a sense of movement in some form. Drawn to the sea as a child and stationed near the sea during Navy years; I choose to always live near the sea.
   I incorporate a sense of motion in my fabrics and in my painting:  Movement of the wind, ocean, prairie grasses or figures. My paintings are the inspiration for some of my fabric compositions and portray ebb and flow in motion...like the sea..  I move the brush with bold, sweeping gestures across a canvas that is then transferred to fabric or paper.  Some compositions are squished, folded and layered onto a canvas, some fabrics are draped on to a canvas.  The textures create shadows and color palettes in motion.   
  b. 1953 Youngstown, Ohio. After primary education, I immersed myself in Secessionist, Dada, Jugendstil, Abstract Expressionist and Impressionist music, aRt and German/Austrian literature.  Studied one semester at Linzer Akademie fur Bildende Kunst, Linz (1971), and at Modeschule Hetzendorf in Vienna (1972-73), with Josef Schützenhöfer (1971-1982).  
  Served in U.S. Navy 1976 – 2000.  With generous in-service education benefits, I earned B.S. (University of New York Regents - 1981) and M.A. Ed. (George Washington University - 1991) degrees while on active duty.  Later, I used G.I. Bill benefits after leaving the service and earned a second undergraduate (B.F.A.) degree at Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA (2010).  Studied with Charles Kello and Norman Goodwin, Norfolk, VA (2008- 2012).
  We were taught to “train our eye” but my canvases veered to abstraction.  I rejected the restsrictions of gender and rank…they no longer had authority over me.  I preferred to trust my own instincts.  The freedom to self-express after a rigid, intense experience in the military turned my paintings bold, uninhibited and full of movement.  My abstract paintings made (I believed…) beautiful fabric designs.
  Few paintings are complete in an afternoon; yet some of my most successful pieces were completed early in my career, and some in a day or two.  Most designs now develop after months (or years) because I always start my paintings with the reckless belief that something wonderful can happen.  Nine times of 10, it doesn’t work out so I go back to it later…sometimes two or ten more times. Each edit adds another layer of beauty.
  The tension between strict military and loose creative forces provided enough angst to produce some real masterpieces.  I use color to represent things other than things.  I have called on the discipline, focus and energy of my previous occupation to good use in creating large, sweeping canvas Fields of Color.