About the Artist | Artist's Statement | Awards | Exhibition Experience

After years of of playing with different mediums, pastels are undoubtably my favorite choice. I use Hard, Medium and Soft Pastels with a minimal amount of drawing and underpainting. I really enjoy the brilliant colors and the tactile softness that pastel sticks offer. They allow me to build up a thick texture by hand with multiple layers of color. I work primarily on a heavy sanded paper which enables me to build up many layers of pastel, as well as block in my drawing and underpainting with large shapes in a variety of wet or dry medium. Depending on how I feel or the subject matter that I am trying to capture, I will choose between using oil, watercolor, pure pigment, charcoal or alcohol washed over hard pastel to achieve my underpaintings. I think this adds to the richness and depth of the pastels and allows me to play in a subtle way with a variety of mediums while still keeping the focus on pastels. I enjoy painting on location in Plein Air, as well as working in a studio painting from my own photographs.

About the Artist | Artist's Statement | Awards | Exhibition Experience