ArTIST BIO

“Whether the subject is the open land by her Illinois home, flowers mixed in with a china teacup or a model posing at the Palette & Chisel Club where she teaches, her paintings resonate an honesty, a depth of spirit and love for the language of painting and for the joy of being alive.”

Encouraged by my mother from an early age, I have been creating artwork my entire life. I am a painter who works primarily in oils. My education is extensive and continuing. My passion is painting and sharing that form of self-expression with others as a teacher. There is an incredible joy in the language of paint and I consider that my job, to do it and teach it.

I am a painter who loves to teach. Growing up in rural Iowa and on my grandparents’ farm in Missouri I began my affair with the still life objects and meadow scenes I presently paint. Organic shapes and earthen vessels create a special appeal and appreciation for me.

My artistic training began at Keyte’s Art Studio when I was 12. Five years of drawing from plaster casts opened the door to Chicago’s American Academy of Art. Degrees in Graphics and Fine Arts preceded an appointment to their faculty, a position I have enjoyed for 12 years.

I presently paint for galleries and exhibitions and teach at one of Chicago’s art treasures-The Palette & Chisel Academy. I am also compiling my paintings and teaching methods into a book for publication.

My most recent honors and awards came from two prestigious and national shows. The Oil Painters of America National show awarded my work the American Artist Award and the American Women Artists awarded me their Outstanding Work Award.