On portraiture………………………
I have always been fascinated by the diversity of faces and I enjoy the challenge of capturing a likeness.
In painting both animal and people portraits I am always striving to portray the character of the individual with as much dimension and life as possible.
Pastel is my preferred medium for animal portraiture because of its easy ability to describe such a wide variety of textures. I also like to draw and paint at the same time and pastel allows me the possibility to interact with the surface of the painting more directly, to achieve this marriage of shape and line.
Watercolor is also a favorite medium for painting figures and portraits of people. I love the unpredictability of this medium and the happy accidents that may result!
I also like to combine the different qualities of watercolor and pastel in many of my figurative paintings, as well as painting figures that are occupied or involved in an activity.