Watercolor is a humbling medium.  I rarely end up where I had planned in the beginning.  Paint mixed in water has a mind of its own so at some point the watercolorist gives up directing and just follows its lead.  John Singer Sargent said it best when he described painting in watercolor as, “making the best of an emergency”.  Agreed!

I‘ve painted for over thirty years and with this medium I have never once felt like a professional artist.  There was a time when I was young when I painted in Europe and Hawaii and had one-woman shows and gallery exhibitions.  But I never felt like a ‘professional artist’…just a lucky one.  Every time I’m happy with a painting it’s something of a surprise.  I don’t draw particularly well…but I love color.  Perhaps I’m sharing this little website not to show what I can do in watercolor but rather what color and water together can do.   Wonderful things.

I use mainly transparent pigments all of which are lightfast and are therefore stable in light.  I prefer Schmincke watercolors but also use Holbein and Winsor Newton for pigments which might have special properties such as granulation or unique behaviors when mixed with other pigments.  I prefer Arches cold press paper and mainly use 140 lb weight which I tape to my board since my early washes are wet-in-wet and require the stability.  I love my brushes and have had most of them over 40 years so I know their personalities well. 

What inspires me?  The thought that we are made in our Creator’s image and thus are made to create.  Watching children paint is inspiring.  My grandchildren reach for the big brushes each time, and this inspires me - because I can be a small brush person.  Children don’t do carefull, controlled glazes…they go right in with the midtones.  They don’t criticize their work when they’re done; they look for someone to give it to.  Art is fun for children, not terrifying.  There is no white fright.  They see white paper as a surface on which to put their imagination.  With big brushes.