About the Artist
Art, in some form or another, has always been a part of my life. As far back as I can remember, I loved to draw. My grandmother was especially encouraging of our drawing talent, supplying each of her grandkids at an early age with our very own sketchbooks for us to draw in when we came to stay for summer visits.
I can still recall those soft-cover books with their protective tissue paper sheets bound between the sketch paper pages; they made our artwork feel important. My earliest memories were my drawings of pipe-smoking gnomes and their toadstool homes complete with tiny doorways and stovepipe chimneys--
a popular subject for many little girls my age growing up in Holland.
I spent 20 years as a graphic designer in the L.A. area, including over 10 years with the Walt Disney Co. Like so many of us who put their artistic passions aside for a regular income, a period of complacency set in where time for personal art lost out to other seemingly more important demands.
After a few years of traditional graphic design work, the advent of the computer changed everything.
At first intrigued and challenged by the new technology, I soon became frustrated and realized what
I really missed was what attracted me to the field in the first place: working with my hands and the tactile nature of creating with markers, pens, x-acto knives, and all the other wonderful, colorful tools of the trade.
An eventual move from California to North Carolina proved to be quite a culture shock, but the area’s rich crafts tradition resonated with me. To satisfy my creative needs and my desire for the feel and manipulation of real materials, I took up hobbies such as needlepoint, weaving, and quilt-making. I’ve always been attracted to color and texture, and these fiber arts gave me a sense of satisfaction. In my desire to learn more about the craft world and to offset the emptiness of graphic design, I attended art workshops in weaving and textile arts as well as bookmaking. Local workshops eventually lead to a summer session at Penland School of Crafts, a magical place of creativity nestled in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Spending several weeks immersed in creativity, working alongside amazing artists from all over the country, proved to be a pivotal experience for me; I realized my personal need for a creative, artistic life could no longer be ignored. Staying in a very unsatisfying job became scarier than an unknown future pursuing art. I bailed the 9-to-5 work world—with its regular paychecks and wicked combination of health insurance benefits and office politics—and took on the challenge of exploring my personal art.
Eventually I found painting to be the medium that captured my attention the most. My paintings include both representational and abstract styles and are often inspired by the natural world around me. I'm intrigued by color and texture and how light can shift and play with the colors and shadows in nature. I view the painting process as a transformative journey where patience, persistence, keen observation and trust enable me to access the creative and intuitive forces and allow them to guide my hand, often leading to unexpected results.
I can still recall those soft-cover books with their protective tissue paper sheets bound between the sketch paper pages; they made our artwork feel important. My earliest memories were my drawings of pipe-smoking gnomes and their toadstool homes complete with tiny doorways and stovepipe chimneys--
a popular subject for many little girls my age growing up in Holland.
I spent 20 years as a graphic designer in the L.A. area, including over 10 years with the Walt Disney Co. Like so many of us who put their artistic passions aside for a regular income, a period of complacency set in where time for personal art lost out to other seemingly more important demands.
After a few years of traditional graphic design work, the advent of the computer changed everything.
At first intrigued and challenged by the new technology, I soon became frustrated and realized what
I really missed was what attracted me to the field in the first place: working with my hands and the tactile nature of creating with markers, pens, x-acto knives, and all the other wonderful, colorful tools of the trade.
An eventual move from California to North Carolina proved to be quite a culture shock, but the area’s rich crafts tradition resonated with me. To satisfy my creative needs and my desire for the feel and manipulation of real materials, I took up hobbies such as needlepoint, weaving, and quilt-making. I’ve always been attracted to color and texture, and these fiber arts gave me a sense of satisfaction. In my desire to learn more about the craft world and to offset the emptiness of graphic design, I attended art workshops in weaving and textile arts as well as bookmaking. Local workshops eventually lead to a summer session at Penland School of Crafts, a magical place of creativity nestled in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Spending several weeks immersed in creativity, working alongside amazing artists from all over the country, proved to be a pivotal experience for me; I realized my personal need for a creative, artistic life could no longer be ignored. Staying in a very unsatisfying job became scarier than an unknown future pursuing art. I bailed the 9-to-5 work world—with its regular paychecks and wicked combination of health insurance benefits and office politics—and took on the challenge of exploring my personal art.
Eventually I found painting to be the medium that captured my attention the most. My paintings include both representational and abstract styles and are often inspired by the natural world around me. I'm intrigued by color and texture and how light can shift and play with the colors and shadows in nature. I view the painting process as a transformative journey where patience, persistence, keen observation and trust enable me to access the creative and intuitive forces and allow them to guide my hand, often leading to unexpected results.