About

My body stills and my mind quiets. Squinting to blur my vision, faces and trees become shapes and lines. My eyes shoot between the canvas and the subject; I work quickly. My favorite time to paint is the magic hour, the hour before dusk. The light glows orange and casts long, purple shadows- the day draws to a close, and my process becomes a race against the setting sun. The pressure to do it all- to finish before the end of the day, before the moment is over- drives my work and my process.

Painting landscapes is how I love and honor the gentle beauty of New England. Plein air painting is a spiritual practice I use to help balance my daily stress of living in the city.For me, it is a form of active meditation; it brings me peace and joy- and also frustration! Only about 1 in 10 paintings are truly successful. When I make a “dog” of a painting (to quote one of my favorite painters and professors, Christopher Chippendale), after lugging all my gear up a hill, is never fun. But it’s the process- being there and trying to capture that intangible sacredness of life, what Marsden Hartley called the “living essence present everywhere.” 

I have always had a profound need to connect with others. For me, painting a person is a very powerful and intimate experience. To paint a successful portrait, I feel that my sitter must trust me and feel at ease. Their struggles and desires, their vulnerability, their strength- if I can understand, honor and capture even a piece of who they are, I am happy. Honestly, I am never completely happy with anything that I paint. I have painted over 100 portraits from life, and maybe two or three really capture that person completely AND is a good painting.

I start with upwards of 20 colors on my palette. I take my time to mix my pigments, working until I match each hue with exactly what I see. Once I start painting, I work very fast, doing my best to complete the portrait in a single sitting (usually within 2-5 hours). Sometimes I run out of time and cannot finish a piece to my liking. Rather than resorting to photographs and doing my best to “fix” the painting at a later date, I just chalk it up to experience and start fresh with a new canvas on another day. Regardless of the outcome, my models often report that the experience was relaxing and enjoyable for them. 

As an artist it is my goal to depict people and places with sensitivity and without embellishment, recording them in order to honor and treasure them. I take inspiration from my immediate surroundings: my neighborhood in Jamaica Plain, the landscapes of the Arnold Arboretum, and perhaps most of all, my friends, new and old.