After getting my BFA (hons) in Illustration from Syracuse University, I began my career in commercial art in the Albany NY area as an illustrator, designer and art director. But it wasn't enough, I wanted be excited about my work and my life. So throwing all caution to the wind, I decided at the age of 30 to get on a plane to London and then ended up staying in Europe for almost twenty years. Still doing my art full time both in commercial and fine art painting, I managed to live and travel throughout Europe, living mostly in Ireland and France as an EU resident.

 

I marveled at the fantastic greens of the Irish landscape and the play of sunlight between the never ending rain clouds. I spent time in the museums and cathedrals of France. I was captivated by the Renaissance paintings, their imagery, allegory and symbolism. There was majesty and beauty covered in gild with a side of resplendence. In Paris, I was able to explore many exceptional materials at hand in the creating of an oil painting. When I was an artist in residence at the Atelier rue des Tournelles, I learned techniques with oil glazing that bring with it depth and saturation of color. I love the intensity of vibrant saturated colors created by layering, they seem to have the ability to breathe as they are not flat. They feel alive to me.

 

Now I'm back in the States and I've brought back an excitement for my work and life. I am driven to create beautiful things because I feel profoundly connected and clear when I am creating them. Beauty is tangible, it is a quality that something has that gives you pleasure, it pleases the senses – it brings you to a better feeling place. My painting is about bringing beauty into being and enhancing a feeling of connection to yourself. And it's about telling a story, with hidden meaning and symbolism that engages the viewer into the journey where they get to their own place of knowing. My desire is to make art for the lovers of beauty and those that seek a greater sense of connection and clarity.