Artist statement
My art is greatly influenced by travels and the sheer beauty of nature. I love colour, patterns, occurring in nature as well as man made, and I love textures. In my paintings I enjoy adding texture using a wide variety of things such as sand, fruit and veg sacs, fibres such as string, rope or wool,wood bits, fabric, and even laundry lint! I want the painting to grab someone's attention and have them recognise everyday objects They never thought would be used as art!
With my sewing ventures, I love to pay attention to fine detail giving the final product a finished, solid look and feel. I love searching every fabric shop I can find for prints that are out of the ordinary , contemporary and fun. I put a lot of thought into complementory colour matching and design for fun and functionality.
With my silk painting, I want to have colours interact with each other side by side, overlapping and mixing. I like to achieve a unique, free flow design with muliple colour schemes.
Personal Profile
I was born in Montreal Canada. I trained as a registered nurse and have worked as such in Montreal, Canada, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA and Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1995 I left nursing to raise my family.
I started to paint in 1991 while on sabbatical in Belgium with my ex-husband, where I took a simple painting class. Upon our return to the USA I continued my pursuit of painting under the teutalage of Jane Filer at THE ARTS CENTER in Carrboro, North Carolina on and off for about 10 years.
I come from a long line of sewers. My maternal grandmother was a seamstress in the window of a large department store in Ottawa, Canada at the turn of the 20th century. My mum used to sew clothes for my sisters and I when we were young and one of my sisters graduated Haute Couturiere school in Montreal, Canada. I sewed most of my daughters' clothes when they were small and continue to sew garments for myself and my children.
My silk painting all began with a day workshop taken at Jerry's Artorama in Raleigh North Carolina in 2001.
I have travelled extensively while single and as a family unit mostly in Canada USA Europe and India. I have lived in Canada, USA, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, England and Australia.
I speak English, French and Italian.
I was an active member of Art West Community Gallery and am now an active member of Whitehorse Arts Association.