About

The Work

Urban Landscape Paintings/Drawings

I have a love/hate relationship with the cities in which I’ve lived. Depending on the time of day, there are two worlds that exist in the same physical space: streets that appear gritty, dirty and depressing by day turn into an environment infused with a strange kind of lush, dark beauty and romance at night. These are the moments that remind me to take a breath, look closer, and recognize that there is still beauty in the world despite all of the chaos that surrounds us. Painting these moments is, in a strange way, my minor act of rebellion.

While my work is rooted in the real, it’s the junction between sensation and fact that interests me. My paintings and drawings are meant to exist in that grey area between representation and abstraction, where light and solid form are given equal consideration and are almost interchangeable. The streets, the buildings, the sky, the cars – they’re almost incidental as recognizable objects. It’s the detail of an individual shape, an expressive brush stroke, and the way that everything coalesces into a series of value changes and textural rhythms that excites me. The moments may pass, but the feelings remain.

"Metsä Vastaa" (The Forest Answers)

In 2023, my husband Chris and I embarked on a two-month residency at AARK (Archipelago Artist Residency in Korpo) in Finland. One of the first decisions I had to make was what I would work on, as neither my usual subject (urban landscape) nor medium (oil paintings) were viable. What on earth would I do?

Part of the answer would actually be in that word, “earth.” Yhe island of Korpo is where people go to get away from the noise and stress of urban life. It’s a quiet, peaceful place where you encounter dreamy and mysterious natural surroundings and the loveliest of people. My “Gifts from the Forest” series reflects some of the magic that I found while wandering the paths, shoreline, and forests of Korpo.

As for the medium, these drawings are the continuation of a project that I started years ago. I began using frosted mylar as a ground for imagery during a printmaking class in grad school, and while making prints didn’t ultimately appeal to me, the preparation for it did. Today, I continue to use ink on mylar to loosen myself up and remind myself how to find hidden treasures in the process of making art. I love this method of artmaking so much that I’m constantly sharing tips and materials with other artists I meet, and I’m happy to tell you about it if you ask.

The materials dictate development. I brush, puddle and blow India ink around with a hair dryer until I’ve freed my mind to focus on the idiosyncrasies and “happy accidents” that occur along the way. Precision gives way to creating a series of value changes and textural rhythms, and it’s finished when everything coalesces into a drawing that’s part object and part abstraction.

Upon our return to Seattle, Chris and I geared up for a fall exhibition of our work at the SAM Gallery. In my case, “gearing up” meant creating a small series of oil paintings that supported the emotions and themes that began on Korpo. It was a life-changing experience, and I can’t wait to go back.



The Artist

I’m a wanderer. Growing up, my family and I lived in more than 18 different places of suburban sprawl. As an adult, I shifted toward more urban environments, but I’ve continued the same pattern of movement. Despite my best efforts, I’ve never traveled light—the hobo’s stick from the fairytales is, in my case, a large moving van full of comfortable furniture, hundreds of shoes, kitchen tools that I never use, and boxes upon boxes of canvases.

No matter where I’ve been, painting has always been in my blood. When I was six, I made greeting cards for my family and friends. At nine, I painted a watercolor that my parents still have hanging in their home. I gravitated towards art throughout my education, and received a BA degree in Studio Art from Smith College, but soon after that I began a career in advertising and didn’t pick up a brush for the next decade.

Over time, I found my way back to my passion. Thematic ideas and flashes of the perfect composition crept back into my head until the desire to paint again became so strong that I began taking classes and set up a studio in my dining room. After rebuilding my portfolio, I set off for New York where I got an MFA degree in Painting with academic distinction from Pratt Institute. But the West Coast was calling, so in 2006 I moved to Seattle and set up shop. I love it here, and plan to stay for a while.

I’ve regularly shown my work at galleries in Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Princeton and New York. Here in Seattle, I’m represented by the J. Rinehart Gallery, and I show work at the SAM Gallery.