Artist Statement & Bio
I began my art career in 1995 in watercolor, and soon began adding collage elements to give texture. Then I discovered acrylics, and one day my husband gave me his old stamp collection to use, all of which were monochromatic. I decided to source a few more colorful stamps to add, and just kept expanding.
I like using color in a big vibrant way creating moods to set the tone of the work. Free, bold and strong are words often used to describe my art. I am constantly turned on by new challenges and love experimental methods.
Each piece of art tells a story because the subject is full of pictorial and historical cancelled USA postage stamps that relate to the message. For example, an art composition of a doggie will contain as many dog stamps as are available. The stamps I use range from the old ½ cent stamp to very recent commemorative ones. My feeling is that each one is a little piece of art in itself and bringing them out of the closets to front and center in art is like finding new beauty in old mundane objects, thus repurposing. Road maps are also prominent in my work as they are quickly becoming obsolete with GPS.
After much success with stamp art, I found my collection of wine labels secured as we traveled to wineries for tasting, where folks would often give me new labels never used on a bottle. These are from 30 years of traveling and include foreign countries. So it was a natural leap from small stamps to use larger labels in my work.
Now I am painting two types of art, some just pure acrylic impressionistic paintings, and the second group of stamp, map, sheet music, and wine label colleges with acrylic, truly featuring recycled objects in my art. The latter has been my thrust in recent years and, since I like experimental techniques, I look forward to where I will go next. But this is a fun and passionate journey for me.
I am represented by Amapola Gallery in Old Town on the Plaza, and I am a Signature Member of the NM Watercolor Society, the International Society of Experimental Arts, the International Society of Acrylic Painters, a juried member of the Society of Layerists in Multi-Media, a member of the Corrales Art Society, and a member of the Rio Grande Art Association.
