Member of The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists

I love simplicity and color.

My works in oil are created using the three primary pigments and white, and occasionally, an extra red or blue. Due to a car accident, which left me paralyzed from the shoulders down, I paint holding my brushes in my mouth.

I find inspiration in what is close to me, physically and emotionally. My love of food and concern for our environment is the catalyst for this series of work. I have created Still Lifes of foods I eat regularly. The designs in the backgrounds, and a couple of foregrounds, are dishcloths and napkins found in my kitchen and dining room. Accompanying some of the Still Lifes are portraits of that particular food’s pollinator in action.

I just recently started painting in oils and I am excited by the texture and depth this medium brings to my paintings. I feel like I am sculpting on canvas as I layer paint wet into wet, refining my original sketch with every stroke. Thick, juicy brushstrokes create their own light and shadow. I work to illuminate all the colors I can see while remaining within the realm of realism and representational art.