Featured Artist of the Month
May 2023

**Artist Statement**
*Painting is as important in my life as eating and sleeping.*
Upon graduation from high school, I studied art at Syracuse University for a BFA in fabric design, married, and raised a family.  Later, while working at Silver Burdette as an editor, then at Harcourt and Macmillan in NY, all textbook publishers, I attended Drew University Graduate School for a Masters in American Literature and Composition.  Eventually I switched to technical writing/editing  manuals for programmers for the next 22 years.  This often involved creating diagrams and pictures.
Upon retirement after a move to Pennsylvania, I began taking art lessons again, first at the Senior Center, then with James Feehan, and eventually with Dot Bunn.  I also began exhibiting with Artsbridge and the New Hope Arts League.  In 2012 I won Best Watercolor in a juried Artsbridge show.
Now I paint every day and teach sketching and watercolor in my home in small groups. It is so rewarding to witness my students excitement, when they learn something new or finish a painting.  Recently I joined Artsbridge and the Arts and Cultural Council, and so I get to paint in plein air every week with the River Rats, weather permitting.  I am so excited about exhibiting again and creating a gallery!

Interview

Is there anything about you as an artist that others may not know already?
I can’t think of anything people who know me, don’t know about me. I think right away people sense that I am very liberal, outspoken and frank, and sensitive to the plight of others, as well as to animals, flowers, and trees.

What most inspires you when creating art?
I love painting in plein air with the River Rats, but mostly I paint at home on my dining-room table from photos that inspire me, such as gorgeous skies, trees and shrubs, ponds, rivers, oceans, rocks, wildlife, and always tall grasses, reeds, in muted, earth colors, as well as vivid sunsets and flowers. I’ve been told that my style is a mixture of traditional and Impressionism.

I moved to New Hope in Bucks County, to be near the art world of Artsbridge and then New Hope Arts League. The presence of the Delaware River definitely provided a strong draw, as did the New Hope downtown with all its galleries, shops, and restaurants, as well as those of still quaint Lambertville.

I loved drawing and painting from my toddler days until now. I think I was barely 2, when my mother put crayons and finger paints in my hands. From then on she kept me supplied with paper, coloring books, finger paint, pencils, and eventually watercolors. At the age of 10 or 11 she sent me by bus to art school at the Y in Newark, NJ, for Saturday-morning art lessons (not something she would do in today’s world).

At 85, (May, 2023) not much future is left. Still, I would love my work and my name to become known in Bucks County. Meanwhile, I enjoy painting everyday. My home is my studio.