I am a bicoastal landscape artist living and working in the Bay area. I say bicoastal because I spend a part of the year on the East Coast and Europe and the rest of the year here in San Francisco/Marin. My paintings are on large canvases with tons of colour, light, strong horizon lines, oceans, barns, trees…pastoral scenes…I love playing with colour and pushing it in my paintings whether in an ocean, sky, barn or fi eld. My studio is on Union Street in San Francisco (I share a wall with A Day in May :-)) and I am represented by galleries on both the East and West Coasts. The doors to my studio are always open to visitors when I am painting. You can fi nd me there about 8 months of the year and the other times I am on the road with “travel” as my middle name. I need it so – for inspiration. During those months I have a camera on me, sketching, spending time with my family who lives in all places around the world…Europe, Africa, Mexico…and I come back with a sketchbook full of notes, watercolours and so much that needs to pour out on the canvas. It’s a balanced existence in some ways, although quite hectic too.
Nancy Drew. Or a veterinarian. I was never convinced I could make a living being an artist.
1. I love working with people.
2. I have somewhat of a business sense combined with the fact that I absolutely love what I do for a living. That is the key. You need to love what you do.
3. I love to create places on canvases that let people slow down, and find a place of quiet for a while.
Loving my work and racing to the studio almost daily because I want to not because I have to.
Being an active family member as both a mother and a daughter. Traveling the world with my family and showing my children the world outside their world.
Not taking risks in life. In every aspect of life.
Of course! It’s the key to learning anything in life and getting more self con dent. It’s mandatory. And never regret. Ever.
Travel as much as you can before you settle. Do what you love for a living and you will nd a way to make a living doing it. It might not make a mint, but you will wake up happier for it. Explore all your interests, make mistakes, it doesn’t matter. Take risks and never regret. You only get one life and you need to live it. In the end, work for yourself. Don’t be on anyone else’s time clock.
My parents. They are both in the design and architecture worlds and explore non stop. They are endlessly curious, intellectual and inspiring all at once. They opened my eyes to the rest of the world by traveling with me right from the get go. I was in India fi ve times before I was 15. Crazy, but true. They never defi ned their trips by having a child alongside. I was along for the ride no matter what.
I’m still learning that every day. I think it’s a life long challenge. Listening and watching my children gives me balance. They are always in the moment which for me is the best lesson in life. Cherish every moment we have. Breathe it all in.
I work hard, I travel hard. It’s my motto. I have consciously chosen to close down the studio various months of the year and open myself up to inspiration, travel, family and friends. Living in the Bay Area keeps me apart from many places I want to be at all at once…and so I try and keep the balance of being very disciplined in the studio during my eight months to create the inventory for the shows and the galleries before I hit the road with my family and have the one on one time with them. I created that world for myself and for my family. It feels great to have that balance and working for myself has made it so.
Travel photographer. Or most likely a gallery owner supporting my wonderful artist friends. That’s in my next life.
“How to Catch a Star” by Oliver Jeff ers and all his other books…. Why? Because he is the best children’s book illustrator and all his books send out the most wonderful messages to the little ones…I never stop smiling as I read them.
It would be a combination of cultural sites, language, eye opening experiences for my children, and then some down time on a white sand beach with clear waters and a snorkel by my side.
1) Bali
The daily gratitude of life and dedication to all things beautiful. (See my Blog for this summer’s experience there with my husband and children)
2) Burma
The most powerful travel experience I have ever had for both the people, culture and architecture…I could go on…Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia…I am in love with Asia…
3) Europe (France, Switzerland, Italy…)
It never ceases to amaze me that one can experience so much history, language, culture, landscape, and architecture so close knit together…and to be able to drive from one to another and feel the changes within hours…wild.
4) Mexico
I love the Mexican culture, the language and am particularly fond of San Miguel de Allende where I got engaged and married and return to year after year with my husband and our children.
5) Block Island
My home away from home on the Atlantic Coastline.
