My inspiration to paint is driven by the belief that experiencing beauty, and also participating as cultivators of beauty in our world, is of Divine nature and essential to the thriving of the human soul. I delight in honoring the spirited passion-to-create planted inside of me, by passing it on to others through my art and through teaching art to children. I am foremost an oil painter, responding to a moment of light, beauty, and stillness, whether it be through a Pacific Northwest landscape, a scene of lazy cows or a blooming still life.

Weaving the lovely into rhythms of our family life through many artistic endeavors has been foundational for me. This has taken on many forms, including the art of pottery, which I’ve enjoyed creating alongside my children, and block printing, born of the desire to create an original and unique handmade card, penned to express gratitude or encouragement.  It is not uncommon to see these many forms of art overlap in my work, as some of my still life paintings have been scenes created with pottery handcrafted by myself or my kids, presented with flowers planted in our home garden for future paintings such as these.  Some of my pottery and linocut block prints have also been impressions of the garden we have planted.

As a wife and bustling homeschooling mother of three, I create most of my paintings in the early morning hours before the day for my family begins. Most of my work is created in the studio, inspired by a scene experienced in person.  I am always working to paint looser, saying more with less detail, and to focus on painting the joyful energy of life and light moving through a moment; this, taking precedence over merely copying the subject I am painting.  It is my hope that in responding to this unexplainable-through-words, amorphous essence of a scene with loose and energetic brushwork, I can create a connectedness of spirit to a place, while simultaneously creating a space for stillness, which is needed in a world that moves so fast.

My work has been gallery represented for the last 20 years, primarily at Art on the Boulevard Gallery in Vancouver, WA and Clearwater Gallery (now Rickard’s Gallery) in Sisters, OR.  Currently, I am solely representing my own work as it ebbs and flows into the fabric of family life, and am dedicated to painting regularly in my home studio in Ridgefield, WA. 

I wish to express the most humble and sincere gratitude to my husband Rick, my family & my amazing parents, as well as all my collectors and gallery directors over the years.  Your support has made my dream of painting professionally a reality.