Inspiration

I've lived my whole life in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington State, surrounded by the forests where I hiked; the mountains where I skied and hiked; the Pacific ocean where I dug razor clams and swam;  and the lakes and rivers. This abundance of natural beauty of course influenced my work. My mother, Pamela Love, was a palette knife painter while I was a water colorist for many years. When I switched to oils I had had years of watching Mom paint with her knives. That was a huge influence on my technique.

I grew up with Fine Art books in the house and spent many hours studying the paintings. I especially love the works of John Singer Sargent, Vincent Van Gogh, Richard Diebenkorn,  and my mother's work too.

I want to find the beauty I see all around me and share it with others. I want to translate the emotions I feel into my work. I'm not trying to be literal although if I catch the right "feeling" I hope it resonates with my viewers.

Techniques

My mother, Pamela Love, was a palette knife painter while I was a water colorist for many years. When I switched to oils in 1999, I had had years of watching Mom paint with her knives. That was a huge influence on my technique. I like to work alla prima, wet paint layered or cut into wet paint, often completing a painting in one sitting if possible. I prefer working with my palette knives which allows for lots of texture though lately I have found myself on some complex subjects needed to let my paint set and come back in with some glazing to achieve the results I'm looking for. So things are evolving a bit. It's still fun to turn on fast music sometimes and just push myself to paint without thinking, just react.

career highlights

My most exciting highlight was having an exhibition in New York City at the Montserrat Gallery in Soho in 2001. The comments at the opening of the show were pretty "heady' and the review in the New York Gallery Guide was wonderful.

Locally, over the years  I have been in many galleries from Kirkland to Tacoma. I've won some awards and had my work in hospitals, city halls, libraries, restaurants, nursing homes, hotels, retail stores, mall shows, street fairs, etc.

I have had my work accepted into some national shows, and although it was fun to be at award ceremonies in different states I  haven't done that lately as it was a lot of work to keep track of things flying around the USA, and the stress of making sure the artwork returned safely, which didn't always happen.