Current News and Events (in no particular order)
• American Watercolor Society 2023 Associate Members Online Exhibition, June 7 - August 20, 2023
• Toledo Federation of Art Societies “Juried Members' Exclusive Exhibition” June 9 - August 13, 2023 (in Toledo Botanical Gardens, 5403 Elmer Dr, Toledo, OH 43615)
• Ohio Watercolor Society "Watercolor Ohio 2023 - 46th Annual Juried Exhibition" July 9 - Aug.13, 2023 @Mansfield Art Center (Mansfield, OH)
• Gateway to the Arts Gallery, John Glenn Intl' Airport/Ohio Art League, "Ohio Parks and Preserves" April 14 - June 7, 2023 (Columbus, OH) Solo Show
• Springfield Museum of Art, "Watercolor USA 2023" June 10, 2023 - September 3, 2023 (Springfield, MO)
upcoming...
• Finalist. Artists Magazine, "AcrylicWorks 10: The Best of Acrylic", Page spread in the magazine to be released in September 2023
• Oct. 20 -Dec. 1, 2023 Maumee Valley Country Day School (Toledo, Ohio) Solo Show. Reception 11/10 /2023 5:30-7:00pm
• Mar/May 2024 Schedel Gardens, (Elmore, OH) Solo Show
“Landscapes” Artist’s Series Statement:
My love of landscape has developed from the discipline of plein air painting. For me, the immersion ‘in’ the landscape is transportive. Although my presented works are created in the studio, when I hear my viewers say “oh, I want to be there”, I know that I’ve tapped into their need for 'immersion' as well.
I am attracted to lush landscapes whether 'in the wild' or structured gardens. Within these lush scenes, multiple views of an area become a point of interest for me. Creating works in separate mediums also fuels this. Although I’m not doing diptychs or triptychs, I am understanding the grandeur within a microcosm, like Monet and his repetition of waterlilies. In just a few steps a scene can change so dramatically, so I am drawn to keep the area but with a different view.
I currently paint watercolor on YUPO or acrylic paints. I am attracted to The vibrancy of color and luminous nature that the synthetic paper (YUPO) affords. It also enables me to explore textures, be bold, and achieve the ‘lush’ escape I’m going for. Concurrently, the use of acrylics with palette knives pushes me further into an impressionistic expression with the added excitement of thick texture.
I am drawn not only to the beauty within a scene, but am careful to include beckoning elements of light/shadow, repetition and depth. Scenes chosen revolve around a dance of light and shadow and it's own sense of invitation to explore; pathways are common to include for this reason. Quiet, hidden, reflective/introspective....lush; these are things I look for. I am polarized by scenes that make me forget my troubles and I feel "enveloped", even if just for a moment.
“Genre” Series Artist Statement:
Watercolor on Yupo has been a challenge and recent focus for my everyday-life scenes involving portraiture. I had been painting landscapes as a way to escape my troubles; and throughout covid, I began to experiment with media, mediums and techniques that I'd never tried before; such as watercolor on Yupo, a synthetic paper. I also spent a lot of time with close family (during covid lock-downs) and so my love for genre themes continued to grow and become very personal. This personal nature involves my affections, feelings, and light-hearted approach as my real midwest reality wears upon my sleeve. I consider myself a 'deep thinker', but I'm always looking for the humor in life. I share deeper thoughts on individual pieces I have on Artreprenuer.
Although Yupo is known for it's ease in subtractive painting, I paint in a layered add-on approach... very seldomly 'erasing' what I've laid down. This approach is more painstaking in having to only lay one pass down at a time followed by the time it takes to fully dry in-between passes.. but this method gives me a distinctive look and feel that is uncommon for most purveyors of Yupo. I also find myself using watercolor pencils and ink as well.
“Hands” Series Artist Statement:
To this artist, hands are a beautiful thing. Hands nurture; they toil, they bless - they strive. Beyond prayer, hands empower the soul. They also tell every story under the sun. Trial to triumph, compassion to crucifixion--these hands are filled with every line of life.
My works convey an underlying spiritual theme; with overtones of societal issues. The element of 'hands' depicted are an important vehicle to deliver an expression of emotions that need no face to convey, no voice to tell. To the spiritually sensitive, rich meaning can be drawn; while the rest may find themselves moved by the emotional tone of the piece, depiction, or left with a hunger to discover ‘why?’
I use an earthen palette which holds a feeling of age... history, treasured memory. Mixing media helps me flow with what is best for the piece. Focal points needing depth and opacity while inherent darkness to a work is often used to convey a dreamlike 'state of thought' or as an ‘underline’ to the deeper spiritual message I am intending to convey. Dimensional objects are often inserted; that element of texture is an important means that brings ‘physicality’, --that drawing sense of ‘Touch’.
Through such uses, my desire is to pull the viewer into empathy; fusing personal life experience with the message and emotion that the painting exudes.
The ‘Hands’ tell the story. I have found that if I cover the artwork and leave only the hands showing, that there must be a story, an emotion -- a sense. If it’s not there, it’s not ‘Hands’.