The Why
Painting is my favorite place to balance things; it’s wild and focused, bold and soft, light and dark. When I'm creating, it's because I've connected personally with a subject matter – whether it's celebrating my roots with the Massachusetts Puddingstone paintings or my Fruit Still Life Expressions. I lean into things that make me happy and people who inspire me.
The enchantment happens when I get to share that work with other people who share my love of that subject. When this happens, I become connected to entire groups of people who love something I love too. That is why I paint.
About my work
Ever since I became healed by the act of painting and put roots back into my hometown. I wanted others to be healed by a little taste of the meaning that gave me life. I started reshaping my own version of what I thought art was. I have a deep wonder of the materials that make up our lives and the meaningful stories behind them. I find the meanings can come from loved items with memory, places, or even nature. I like to harness those meanings onto every piece but mostly I work with water based paints, due to an allergy to oil paint.
The style can be described as expressionist-meets-realism. It is boldly colorful and textured, often paradoxically layered with carefully rendered subjects. A spirit of experimentation defines my use of materials/medium, sometimes resulting in the alchemy of meaningful substances into parts of my artwork. My best known example of this is physically incorporating Roxbury Conglomerate “Puddingstone” into my paintings with the official MA state symbols. I have also worked with, plastic, paper, guitar strings, and a number of collectors’ personal artifacts.
Incorporating unconventional materials into my work, most often in my commission work, is all about making art with a layered meaning and story. Sometimes a physical incorporation adds something really unique to the piece. I love that process of discovery.
My history
I grew up in Rehoboth MA and moved to Boston, where I received a degree in Interior Design. I stayed in Boston area to pursue a design career but ended up in Muti-media design when I found watercolor artist, Frank Costantino, and an opening at his Boston based Architectural Illustration firm. My intro to the water-media there kicked off my 12 year journey into becoming a full time artist. In 2013 I began working for myself, taking on freelance design clients and growing a side branding/ graphic business over the years into one that focused exclusively on logo creation while I learned to paint.
In 2019 I realized my art goals took a left turn. I was successfully managing a small team of marketers in Taunton MA, when I decided to take a bigger leap of faith and quit the selling life of products (products I wasn’t proud of) in search of a deeper connection to the art I loved and a life of balance and joy. It was during that time that I began painting again, in my signature style. I was also feeling burnt out from my marketing life, and missing the analog aspect of making art with my hands. I asked myself, “is it possible to make a living as an artist?” All evidence pointed to the contrary, but I had to try. So I resigned with the sales company, the pandemic hit, and, BAM, my life has changed in strange and wonderful ways since making that decision and I haven’t looked back.
Me today
I now use acrylic paint in addition to watercolor. I'm a Signature member of the Rhode Island Watercolor Society. My studio is in Rehoboth MA, and though one of my favorite places in world, I am looking for a new one very soon! I have a deep and abiding love of avocados. I love reading about health & wellness and podcasts about custom tiny homes. I also enjoy attending a good baseball game every now and then, my hour workout every day, tree bathing, and traveling. I am a Gemini, proud aunt, and a classic introvert.