“Every painting begins with play.”

 When I was a very young child, well before I began kindergarten, I thought of myself as an artist. While on family vacations at the seashore, I remember entertaining anyone who happened to stroll by me on the beach with my larger than life drawings, using whatever materials that were lying nearby to create bold marks in the sand. I distinctly recall thinking that this was what I was born to do. Becoming an artist wasn’t a conscious decision, it was just who I was.

Fast forward several years to New York City, where I studied Illustration at Parsons School of Design. My career after graduation took a few interesting twists and turns, starting with a brief stint working at a Toronto art gallery, followed by several years as a retail business owner and as a teacher. I have since circled back to my childhood passion of creating art on a daily basis in my beautiful light-filled studio by the lake, and fully embracing the artist life.

 Technically, I’m a mixed media artist, which means that I use a variety of materials to layer and build history on the surface of each painting. I love to work with acrylic paint, wax pastels, graphite, collage ephemera, monotypes, and painted papers. 

Every painting that I make begins with play. I never know where a piece is headed, which keeps my studio practice fresh and unpredictable. One of my goals as an artist is to keep exploring and pushing my limits, whether that be with materials, scale or with new techniques.

As an abstract artist, I paint what I feel, not what I see. Memories are extremely important to me, as are the emotions associated with experiences, both past and present. Music is an integral part of my studio practice. Picking a playlist is the first thing that I do before I reach for my paints and other tools. I love music that evokes a strong emotional response, such as soundtracks to films or music that I listened to during different periods of my life.

Every painting is built up of several layers, which become gradually more refined as the piece evolves and takes shape. Once completed, each artwork is sealed with gloss medium and UV satin varnish to protect and intensify the colour.

I live right beside Lake Ontario in the heart of downtown Burlington. The windows in my studio space look out on a sweeping vista of sky, water and all the urban elements that make up this vibrant neighbourhood. My palette is often influenced by the colours that I see with a mix of natural hues, highly saturated pigments and the weathered stone neutrals of the local architecture.

 When describing my work, I talk about the powerful interplay between wildness and precision that draws me to abstraction, much like the mix of the natural and urban landscape in which I live. There is an exhilarating energy that happens when these two opposites coexist.