Art is a Journey

I can't imagine my life without the arts!  Anything I create is a reflection of my life; such as, where I've been, what I've experienced, or what catches my eye in an immediate moment.

I love the feeling of paths, stacked shells and rocks, and any type of flower or succulent. Most of the paintings I create is beach or plant related. I haven't ventured into portraits, but would love to learn in time. Most often I choose pastels in which I paint on sanded paper. It takes up to 20-25 layers of pastel on this paper. Pretty impressive that sanded paper can hold on to that much pastel pigment! I also do paintings on Gator board in which I paint Gesso on to get more movement and texture on selected paintings.

With my jewelry, I love seaglass, silver and leather creations.  I love wirework with swirls, circles and other different shapes with texture. Occasionally, I will create enameled pieces that are an "Element of surprise".  These pieces end up with a whimsical look to them. Very bright and fun!

The painting in this blog is a favorite of mine. It is a 6 x 6 painting of two shells I found at the beach. I started to do these in color, but then decided to go the black and white route. I LOVE how the shadows and hightlights worked in this painting. There is a bit of character and moment in this piece as well.