Artist Statement

My journey toward depicting botanical images began most unexpectedly after spotting a pendent in an Arizona shop window. The pendent was created by Masriera, a silversmith and enamellist designing jewelry in Barcelona in the early 20th century in the style of Art Nouveau in themes from nature and fantasy. Masriera’s designs often combine a bright palette of plique-a-jour enamel outlined in gold and studded with brilliant gems, creating a variety of translucencies in color and texture, qualities I endeavor to capture in paint.

I’ve always loved the domestic interiors depicted by the post-impressionists such as Bonnard and Vuillard because of their bright colors and interesting patterns and the glimpse of the garden they frequently portray beyond the interior space. An exhibit of prints by Lauren Moya Ford titled Full Bloom, inspired by Madrid’s Royal Botanical Garden, also sparked my interest in depicting botanical images. I gained appreciation after taking a class with Austin artist and botanical illustrator Clair Gaston. Clair taught me to look at my feet and take in the wealth of subject material that can be snipped and touched and photographed for reference from Austin parks and open spaces.

I’m most drawn to compositions where surprises emerge from shadows and reflections, providing multiple points of view of the subject and creating a distilled and abstracted image.

During the pandemic years, the lily pond became my go-to place to escape the confines of home, a place I’ve continued to visit since then. I love the gorgeous, waxy texture and colors and delicate petal patterns of water lily flowers, the leaves in various stages of life cycle, and the complex network of underwater stems. The sky and the plants and structures in and around the pond cast shadows and reflections onto the pond surface. The view changes from moment to moment with the pond life, the breeze, and the sun and cloud cover.

Oil paint mixed with wax is the perfect medium to depict the pond. Wax is versatile and forgiving, allowing multiple layers of color varying in texture and transparency to be applied, and the surface scratched and scraped to reveal colors and shapes beneath.