Watercolor amazes me. I find its unpredictable reactions - between
pigments, within the water itself and with the surface I’m painting on
- endlessly fascinating. I truly enjoy studying on its practice and
chemistry, but it seems that things always turn out best when I let go
of trying to control the paint. I use a lot of water and enjoy watching
the way it carries and moves the pigments with minimal interference
from me. It’s exciting when my paintings become a collaboration between
myself and the elements of my medium.
Color, line and
composition are everything to me. When planning a painting, I first
choose colors best suited to the mood and feeling that I want to
express. I then find a subject that will work well with those colors
and that shows me a lot of interesting lines. I choose subjects that I
know well so that I can put my energy into the aspects of my painting
that I find more important. Unlike many watercolor artists, I’m not
very interested in lighting, shadows or realism. I prefer a flat look
and use expressive line to give form and shape to my subjects in a
somewhat Oriental style. I also like to experiment with using warm and
cool colors and changes in focus to define where my subjects are in
regards to space and distance. I challenge myself to make my
backgrounds interesting without fighting for attention.
Living
in Northern Minnesota along with being a wife, mother and farmer are
all hugely influential to my work. These aspects of my life provide
inspiration, motivation and dictate when and how I’m able to paint. The
lessons I learn from watercolor painting – to enjoy the unexpected and
learn to work with mistakes instead of covering or fixing them – are
lessons that I’m constantly reminded to use in the rest of my life.