Personal Statement
I have been drawing from the time I could hold a pencil, then I progressed to colouring in, always trying to stay within the lines, but not always succeeding! My first illustration in the Infant’s Class (first grade), was to draw Jesus going to work with the Disciples. I didn’t know he was a carpenter or a fisherman, so I drew him like the only way I knew how, like my Dad with a business suit, bowler hat and a briefcase, personalized with the letters J.C. on the side!

I studied art in England, and subsequently received various commissions over the years, one of which was to copy an old 4' x 4' pub sign of a short horn bull. Despite having been brought up in the Country, I had no idea of a bull’s anatomy, so I painted him standing in long grass! They liked it and bought it.

I was married in 1990 and moved to the USA with my husband. We have lived in Alaska since then and in that time, I have studied art part-time at University of Alaska, Anchorage (UAA) and Alaska Pacific University, taking life drawing, lithography, print making and, latterly, painting with Steve Gordon. I participated in an end-of-the-year show at UAA in 1994 and my work was awarded "Best 2 Dimensional Piece in the Show". I have experimented in oils, poster paints, watercolour, pastels, pencil, lithography and charcoal, but I am most comfortable with watercolour. I got back to painting full-time in 1997 and have participated in the "Botanical Gardens", "Our Town" and "Table Tops" shows at Artique, Ltd.

I enjoy the watercolour medium more than any other medium. It is very challenging, with instantaneous results and no room for error. Watercolour has wonderful versatility and allows me to paint with great attention to detail which I love.

When people look at my work, I want to engage all of their senses. I want them to see new details each time they look at the work, which they’d missed before, to touch the crispness of an autumn leaf, to hear water gurgling in a stream, to smell a pine forest, the cold sting of a frozen day in winter or to walk along the forest path. In short, I want them to feel as though they are inside my paintings. My subject matter is primarily landscape, but I enjoy and subject which catches the eye and which is interesting or beautiful. Strong light and shadow play a large part in my work and those effects give a painting life. Cheers!