Plein Air Painting in New Mexico and France
|
|
Welcome to my website. I hope that you enjoy my paintings as much as I enjoy finding the subjects and creating the scenes.
I came from a family which was creative with food, gardening, clothing design and painting. My mother and her three sisters were oil painters. The first time I had an opportunity to visit the National Gallery of Art and see the work of the Impressionists I knew that I had to learn how to paint using oils.
That opportunity presented itself when Connie Winters, a prominent North Carolina artist known for her use of color and landscape paintings, became my neighbor. I immediately began to take weekly lessons in her studio. This atelier type of instruction with a talented artist was a gift from God.
In 1999 I traveled to Provence for a painting workshop with Connie Winters. The French workshops have become an annual event and I have returned to Provence or the Dordogne region of France to paint every year since 1999.
Traveling to another country and living in another culture opens my eyes. When free from the day to day busyness of normal life it seems that beauty is all around even in the simplest scenes such as a door way or gate. When I return to Matthews my eyes are open to the same types of scenes here.
Since I am California native, I return California every year. The vineyards, Santa Barbara coastline, and the farmland of the San Joaquin are favorite painting subjects.
In June of 2007 I had the opportunity to attend a Plein Air Painting Workshop in Taos, New Mexico with renowned landscape painter, Kevin MacPherson. His concepts and methods have influenced my work. Geoffrey Johnson taught one of the workshops I attended in France. I continue to take life drawing classes through the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC and other venues.
In addition to painting, I am the business manager for the Connie Winters Painting Workshops in Matthews, North Carolina and France. I live in Matthews, NC with my husband Michael and our two cats Gilly and Happy.
|