Gallery With A Cause • Located in the New Mexico Cancer Center • Benefitting the NMCC Foundation
Please call gallery director Regina Held to arrange a private gallery tour, make a purchase, or ask any questions.
I have been a professional artist for more than forty-five years and I now live and work in Santa Fe, NM. I work now primarily in oils and have been mostly focused on images inspired by nature. My work of the past forty-five years has ranged from close, detailed impressions of individual plants, fruits, animals or other natural elements to broad views of wetlands, water gardens and distant landscapes. The inspirations for them have been found in Wyoming skies, California back yards, Maryland marshes, rural scenes of Georgia, hills and orchards of New England, New Mexico birds, Japanese gardens and Koi ponds, and ancient gardens in Oaxaca, Mexico. The car window has given me a wealth of subjects as have generous people and the occasional trespass.
There is a certain intuitive flow that is important to me, either as a personal interpretation of natural balance or to imply motion in the case of birds or fish. This in company with a vivid rendering of color, which I sometimes alter from precise reality to suit my designs, are the cornerstones of my work. My work appears realistic but, in fact, is not an actual copy of a natural scene.
The subjects of my work are taken from field observation, although I do not exactly reproduce any particular view. I prefer to photograph, sketch and watch subjects through the hours of a day, eventually arriving at what I feel is an essence, perhaps adding or subtracting from what I see. I often explore new sites both near my home and throughout the country, these visits yield complexities beyond static source work, they force my imagination to evolve. A first visit to a place incorporates things like time of day, light, weather and personal expectations which all become part of the information to make a unique piece of art.
I use different methods of painting for each series I create. For example, my friends give her birds’ nests from which I work directly. I use an unusual method of painting, which is, to cover the canvas with paint and to wipe off the images I wishes to create. Aside from using my fingers, she utilizes a variety of tools such as dentist tools, scouring pads, and forks to add texture. After the background and the newly painted nest is dry, I paint eggs, leaves, and other details.
I am in awe of nature, and I express my love with a brush, canvas, an artist’s eye and my heart.
