An Abstract Artist Returns Home
After decades as a successful graphic designer and marketing communications director
in the mad-paced Southern California business landscape,
I turned my attention to a new adventure and a new career: fine art.
Aware I was a "late in life" emerging artist, I combined retirement abroad
with a move to Central America to begin my art journey.
Amazingly, recognition and sales took off!
Seeking a larger market,
I spent years establishing myself on the international art stage
in the beautiful, colorful, antique city of
San Miguel de Allende -- Mexico's art colony and culture capital.
After decades as a successful graphic designer and marketing communications director
in the mad-paced Southern California business landscape,
I turned my attention to a new adventure and a new career: fine art.
Aware I was a "late in life" emerging artist, I combined retirement abroad
with a move to Central America to begin my art journey.
Amazingly, recognition and sales took off!
Seeking a larger market,
I spent years establishing myself on the international art stage
in the beautiful, colorful, antique city of
San Miguel de Allende -- Mexico's art colony and culture capital.
The Covid-19 Pandemic brought me back home to
Irvine, California, where I rode out the pandemic and responded
to life's challenges, not just in my life, but my husband's life as well.
It is now time to re-focus on that which feeds me: art.
Process, materiality and physicality are what speak to me.
Color, pattern and texture are my vocabulary.
I currently choose to work in acrylic, cold wax/oil and
the encaustic paint mediums.
Irvine, California, where I rode out the pandemic and responded
to life's challenges, not just in my life, but my husband's life as well.
It is now time to re-focus on that which feeds me: art.
Process, materiality and physicality are what speak to me.
Color, pattern and texture are my vocabulary.
I currently choose to work in acrylic, cold wax/oil and
the encaustic paint mediums.
"Ancha de San Antonio", above, was featured on the cover of Mexico's San Miguel de Allende Walking Guide.
Cold Wax/OilPellets of beeswax are mixed with natural solvents to create a "mayonnaise-like" consistency. This cold wax is then mixed by the artist with pigments to achieve a cake frosting-type of consistency. It's fun, sensual and joyous!
The cold wax/oil paint process allows for more time to to explore, change and complete my message. Because its drying time is longer, I am allowed the freedom to try new techniques, to develop new directions. |
EncausticEncaustic is hot beeswax melted with resin and color pigments to form the paint. I apply many layers of the hot, molten paint on a wood support, fusing each layer to the underlying one with a torch or heat gun. This produces a painting that can never fade, since the colors are permanently locked in the wax/resin. Encaustic is fluid, which allows my message to subtly change as I'm creating it. The luminosity of the medium allows for a painting with many layers, evoking many stories and inviting touch. Viewers are much more involved with a painting that can be touched as well as visually enjoying the sensual experience of encaustic. Both encaustic and cold wax mediums take me on elaborate, colorful journeys.
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