ARTIST BIO
I was born in Cincinnati Ohio, earned a BA degree from Heidelberg College in Tiffin Ohio and an MPA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After spending almost 20 years in management positions in the gaming industry, I completed my Master’s Degree and worked in management with a start up telecommunications company. Several years ago I was able to take some time to pursue my passion for art more completely. Today I paint, create in other art forms, and own a small yoga studio.
Creating is a way of life for me and making art is how I seek to understand the world. Through drawing, painting, and sculpting I learn to be more consciously present in the moment and a more thorough observer of life. We each see the world from our own unique perspective; I paint to express the beauty, emotions, and experiences I have of the world. The subjects of my paintings are all alive in some way. I am especially drawn to the human form and forms in nature that reflect human traits or emotions.
I work primarily with oil paints because I enjoy how they move from the brush or knife to the painting surface in different ways depending on the application. I like experimenting with different ways of mixing colors on the palette or on the canvas. I also like applying the paints using various thinning and thickening mediums leaving them as they lay on the canvas or removing some of the paint to leave different colors and textures. To me, the process of creating is as important as the result.
ARTIST STATEMENT
For me painting with oil is a humbling experience of exploring, challenging, re-imagining and thinking critically about my perceptions of the world. Faced with an empty canvas I am free to use color, form, texture, line, and light to create an image that represents what I see and feel about a subject. Oscar Wilde, in a short play, The Decay of Lying, says “…reality is never beautiful until it has been cloaked in the lies that are from the imagination. “ When I view the world as a series of objects they are just that, objects. When I look at the world through the eyes of my imagination the objects are transformed in to experiences of beauty or ugliness; joy or sorrow; peace or pain. I want my paintings to invite the viewer to look at the world through his or her imagination; to feel the emotions, the smell the beauty, to touch the subjects.
I like to work with subjects that have simple lines, which are flowing, sensual and invite the eye to travel over them slowly. Much of my work depicts dramatic contrasts, especially those created by color, stark light and shadows which create illusion and depth. While I am most drawn to smooth touchable textures, I represent them in a manner that says they are substantial even when there are pieces of the entirety that suggest something fleeting or mysterious. My works also include oil paintings that honor the harsh and weathered nature that comes with fullness of life.
I know a painting is complete when it asks me to consider its story, who is the subject, why are they here, what is the place, how is it inhabited, is there joy or sorrow, and what happens next?
I have studio space in Las Vegas and some of my works can be viewed on my web site
www.lvstudioart.com
