Artist Statement
I have always focused on painting people, especially strong women. My models are all strong and interesting women who are able to convey their complex interior lives through expression and movement. It is an endlessly fascinating study especially in trying to use the face and body to convey emotion, psychological states, and symbolic and metaphorical ideas. It is also challenging to integrate the figures in a context that is inspired by my study of ancient ruins and frescos in Italy. I study Etruscan tomb paintings and sculpture in central Italy and various archeological sites in Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vulci, Tuscania, Tarquinia, and Rome.
As I lived in Arizona for many years, I was inspired by the magic realism of Mexican figurative painters. I also did a great deal of hiking and was fascinated by ancient rock art in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. I integrate all of this imagery into my work and see links in all of them. Past and present civilizations and the use of pentimento to show these layers of time are an important aspect of the painting. My use of color has also been profoundly influenced by my time in the Southwest, USA and by studying the intensity of light and color in Italy.