Artist Statement

I paint or draw because I like to record what I see in nature, in people, and in objects. Sometimes I attempt to record them as perfectly as they appear in reality and sometimes I want to completely re-create or fictionalize them. My style, my colour choices, and my subjects are diverse because I am not ready to settle down yet. I love the challenge of trying something new and being outside of my comfort zone. I create art much like I follow a recipe, that is, I use instruction as a guideline and let instinct, informed by experience, take me the rest of the way.

Because I like experimenting in different styles, with different mediums, I became an “artist for hire” and now I do commissioned artwork through my business, Creative Commissions. The thrill for me is that I get to make something, and it could be just about anything, using subject matter and strategies that might not normally occur to me or use colours I would not ordinarily choose. This approach to creating art is challenging and interesting, and that’s the way I like it.

I started out my education in art over twenty years ago and even though I did a lot of other things including getting a science degree in the meantime, I keep making art and I do it because I can’t help myself. Creating art is an amazing activity to me – out of a few scribbles with a pencil or strokes of a paintbrush, an image magically appears. Even after all this time, I continue to be surprised by that result.