I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. As an only child, I would save my 50¢ a week
allowance until I could buy a paint-by-number kit or some other art project to feed my creative spirit. I moved
from hand-drawn paper dolls and collages of garden flowers to oil painting, watercolor, traditional Chinese ink
drawing, acrylics, collaging, digital painting, sculpting, and all forms of mixed media.s My degree at Central Missouri
State University and adjunct professional training led to a lifetime of creating art and a 35-year career as a graphic
designer. Since focusing on my fine art several years ago, I have been juried into numerous shows, won multiple
awards, and had my work displayed at solo shows, public art displays, galleries, museums, and art shows in the
United States and internationally.
I have always been an intuitive artist. I love to combine various art modalities, which sometimes leads to happy
surprises and new ways of seeing life. My passion is to approach my art as a small child. When creating paintings on
canvas, I lay a canvas on the floor and randomly begin to brush, dab, drip, spray and scrape paints, inks and other
materials with no particular form in mind. After a few days of exploring the initial abstract, I discover the seed of an
image that I liberate from the background. Multiple layers enhance the emerging image, which takes on a life of its
own. When creating digital paintings, I layer my altered photography with numerous layers of painting, resulting in a
creation that is unexpected and “new.” Sculptures are also intuitive and multilayered. In all forms of my work,
something other than the visible appears, which to me is a testimony to the underlying connectedness of life.
In the spirit of Rassouli’s Fusionart, my art is often a fusing of various cultures, a communication with nature, a
blending of opposites. It is a reflection of what is felt rather than what is seen. What appears in the finished work is
my spiritual and emotional energy fusing with whatever is longing to be expressed. I hope to create something that
is alive with energy — something that invites viewers to connect with life in new and meaningful ways.
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