What inspires you?

Anything and everything! A memory, a certain shape or color, an idea, the desire to try a color chord, technique or medium.

How long does it take you to finish one of your paintings?

That’s easily the most frequently asked question. It’s also the most difficult to answer in terms of hours, since I have several pieces “in progress” at any one time. My process is that when working on a particular painting, the time comes when I feel I need some distance from the work (usually the painting itself tells me it needs to rest!) So I lay it aside and pick up another and so on. This allows me distance and thinking time, both essential in my my successfully developing the painting. Usually whatever I have in the works will be in different stages.

What media do you use?

I love to experiment with new (to me) media. Several years ago, I was painting with soft pastels and heard about this new medium, oil in sticks form – oil sticks or oil bars. I bought a couple but didn’t use them right away. Later on, finding pastel dust bothering my breathing, I decided to experiment with the oil sticks, Which I did, on paper. I loved them. And still do. They’re the same makeup of traditional oils, so that they dry completely, allowing me to paint on hard panel or canvas, without the need for protecting the picture behind glass. This also gave me freedom to paint BIG which I love to do.

What is your training?

Although I have a BA in Fine Arts from UCI, as well as several workshops from artists accomplished in their field,
I feel the most valuable training I’ve had is working in my studio.