I started painting with my grandmother when I was about 5. She was an excellent oil painter. At the time when the Abstract Expressionists were coming of age, she was so excited about their work she could hardly talk. She told me all she knew about them and their work and got me excited, too.

I studied painting, graphics and art history in college, but took my degree in Art Education. Like many, my early work was landscapes and figures. Today my paintings are primarily large format acrylic abstract compositions.

My work is about the process and features texture – light or heavy; marks of all kinds; deep colors and many layers; patterned backgrounds; drips and various mediums. They convey energy, lyrical or frenetic. They convey mood, serious or light-hearted.

I hope to create interest and curiosity through the simplicity or complexity of the piece. I often paint in reaction to current world happenings, not trying to tell that story, but reflecting my feelings at that time. I find the painting process exhilarating and love to talk to viewers about their perception of and reaction to my work. I feel successful when I believe the last one is my best. While a few are difficult to plan and execute, and others come easily, I usually think "What fun that was!"