For many reasons, I did not paint in earnest until I was ready to retire. I married young, had the good fortune to give birth to four healthy children and spent 13 years as a busy stay at home mom. In order to fulfill my creative spirit while managing my many domestic and care-giving chores, I taught myself sewing, knitting and gardening while taking art enrichment classes in the evenings including ceramics, drawing and sketching. When all my children were enrolled in school, I worked in administrative positions, ending up on the support staff of Tufts University where I was given the opportunity to take courses as an employee. During my 20 years of service there I accumulated enough credits to earn a BA degree in Art History, and an MA degree in Education. As I learned about the different stages through which the art world progressed stylistically and creatively, my appreciation for all art grew. Throughout my educational journey, I marveled at the talent involved in the creation of sculpture, architecture and the fine art of painting in all mediums through hundreds of years of history.
I decided to try my hand at painting to ease the loss of my husband after a brief but serious illness and to keep my mind busy after I transitioned to part-time work. I liked the feel and freedom of painting in watercolor and manipulating a small amount of pigment with water. I got hooked almost immediately, although I didn’t feel successful at first. Trial and error increased my confidence. For a year or so, I took lessons from the late well-known watercolor artist, Jack Jones. When I found out classes were available from Lynn artist, Pauline Bacon, then her successor, Bill Deveney, I transitioned to see how other experts approached painting with the medium. Being in class with students exhibiting all levels and methods of painting gave me additional confidence and helped me develop skills as I took note of different ways of handling my paints.
I joined the Lynnfield Art Guild in order to continue my journey around like-minded people who take their art seriously. One of the benefits of the Guild is that it gives members this opportunity to place their paintings on a separate webpage within the LAG website. The ones I have put together are all watercolor, and encompass a variety of subject matter, many taken from my own photographs or still life set-ups. My very favorite paintings are buildings (the way light and shade glance off the structures), scenes including water (the change objects encounter as they interact with flowing or still water) and landscapes with the power and variety of green. I have also painted what I consider to be compositional challenges such as glassware, pottery, flower petals and animals. I sincerely hope you enjoy my paintings and would appreciate any comments to be sent to my email address: [email protected]
