John O’Dononhue defined beauty as: “anything in the presence of which we feel more alive.” This aliveness is translated through me in these watercolor paintings. Flowers have one basic purpose – to be alluring, which they do to many of us, including me. Striking light seals the deal. Whether obvious or not, my art also tells a deeper story of how beauty speaks to soul – the grander story of how being human and having the inclination to gawk translates in watercolor, through one soul living in this precarious moment. I am here to be brave for beauty.

Along with making these paintings, I love to teach and observe the creative process. I believe that acquiring paint handling skills, color and how to really see is the means to a much more important end. There is no one else who is ever going to make the art that is in each of us. Every time we put our brush into a pool of paint and touch it to our paper, it’s us. It carries our mark, like the tone of our voice and the way we sign our name. And the more we do it, the more refined our expression becomes, the more vivid is the illumination of our essence to the watercolor paper. Our consciousness lives in the work we make. With the body of work I’ve created, I see and hold myself altogether differently. I experience a level of freedom that I didn’t imagine was possible. I am more myself than ever by allowing myself to grow through my paintings. And I see this happening with the artists who regularly paint in my groups.

I am quite aware of the evolution that is yet to come in the work that emerges through me. I am infinitely grateful for the opportunity to make art and for the support that is carrying it forth.