I work mostly in pastels, although I started out using oils. I find pastels fun and easy to handle. Always there ready to pick up and use at a moments notice. Being able to leave your work without worrying about cleaning up brushes is what really caught my attention. I love how the colors went on the paper and how you can blend the colors and the ease of correcting mistakes.
I am a self-taught artist, and find without having a preconceived idea of how to go about something, I have developed my own style. I started painting seriously in, January, of 2001. I’ve always wanted to be an artist and as a teenager I drew quite a bit. But working and raising a family made it a little difficult to obtain my passion. I am retired and now have the time needed to devote to developing my skills. Teaching myself with the help of a lot of books and videos, I can see the the improvement in my work.
I love doing figurative paintings because people interest me with the many body shapes and color of their skin and the way the body moves and the overall appearance. I find myself looking at people differently now than I did before I started painting. I look at them as a subject. I look at their features how their hair flows, how the skin reflects the light.
Recently, I have started taking classes, to help me relearn how to do landscapes. Doing landscapes in pastels is much different to me than in oils. I would also like to learn how to work more loosely for an impressionistic type style on both figurative and landscapes. I would like a more varied style in my artwork. I also paint animals and birds. I enjoy a variety of subjects.
Photo Realism fascinates me and I am striving for photo realism as one of the styles I would like to achieve. I've seen other artist’s work that is better than a photo more depth than any photo could ever capture, and I work hard in hope of achieving that goal in my artwork.
