I have been painting for the last 25 years. I started with a watercolor class that happened to be offered in the community center near my home. There I was lucky enough to find a friendly and encouraging class who had the humor and patience to take me on - despite my total lack of experience and their long-shared experience of painting together as an advanced class. I was "hooked" and, although I loved watercolor, after a while I decided to switch to acrylics. I wanted to paint abstractly and to be free to improvise as I worked and to paint on a larger scale.
I spent some time on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and first showed my work at the Kent Island Federation of Art there and at Chesapeake College. In Northern Virginia I have taken many classes at the Art League in Alexandria and have shown paintings there. I shared a studio at Falls Church Art and Frame from 2019 to 2022 and had paintings featured there. As an exhibting member of the Del Ray Artisans I showed several works at their gallery in 2022 and 2023. Most recently, I have become a member of Touchstone Gallery in Washington DC and I show there regularly. I maintain a studio in my home.
In a more academic vein, I studied the work of an Indian painter, Phulan Rani, who was one of the first women painters in Punjab. I put together material for a website about her life, and gave academic presentations on her work. I also taught a course at Northern Virginia Community College called "Art and Society." For much of my life I was a college professor and administrator, so I had less time to paint than I would have liked. Now, retired, I am happily painting more.
I have many favorite painters and sources of inspiration, including Richard Diebenkorn, Franz Kline, Wassily Kandinsky, Julie Mehretu, Joan Snyder, Edna Andrade, Helen Frankanthaler, Steven Quiller and Nancy Reyner. And I am very grateful to the excellent teachers I have worked with, including John Blee, Delna Dastur, Sharon Robinson and Marsha Staiger.
I spent some time on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and first showed my work at the Kent Island Federation of Art there and at Chesapeake College. In Northern Virginia I have taken many classes at the Art League in Alexandria and have shown paintings there. I shared a studio at Falls Church Art and Frame from 2019 to 2022 and had paintings featured there. As an exhibting member of the Del Ray Artisans I showed several works at their gallery in 2022 and 2023. Most recently, I have become a member of Touchstone Gallery in Washington DC and I show there regularly. I maintain a studio in my home.
In a more academic vein, I studied the work of an Indian painter, Phulan Rani, who was one of the first women painters in Punjab. I put together material for a website about her life, and gave academic presentations on her work. I also taught a course at Northern Virginia Community College called "Art and Society." For much of my life I was a college professor and administrator, so I had less time to paint than I would have liked. Now, retired, I am happily painting more.
I have many favorite painters and sources of inspiration, including Richard Diebenkorn, Franz Kline, Wassily Kandinsky, Julie Mehretu, Joan Snyder, Edna Andrade, Helen Frankanthaler, Steven Quiller and Nancy Reyner. And I am very grateful to the excellent teachers I have worked with, including John Blee, Delna Dastur, Sharon Robinson and Marsha Staiger.