ARTIST STATEMENT

 

Making art for me is like being on a very long creative and spiritual journey. The art process has always been a consuming, stimulating passion in my life. I live to create…it is something that keeps me going every day.

 

 

Born in Washington D.C. and raised in the Northern Virginia area, I began creating art at a very early age and have never stopped. I was always interested in art and by the time I got to high school and then college, I was totally immersed in it. I work full time at DevaArt Studio.

 

Originals, SoulWorks (intuitive and spiritual), LifeExpressions (personalized painting commissions) and Animal Art are the four categories of fine art offered at this time. Some will be reproduced as giclee art prints.

 

Creating art is an introspective experience and helps to bring a deep connection within myself.

The mediums I use are archival ink, acrylic ink and alcohol ink. Other mediums I have (and still do) work in are watercolor, gouache (opaque watercolor) and acrylics. Alcohol ink flows freely in a very fluid manner, which lets me create images that have an illustrative-painterly quality.

Alcohol ink captivated me from the first time I used this energetic medium.

The acrylic ink I use is water-resistant and permanent as are the alcohol and archival inks. The acrylic ink dries very fast and does not move once it has dried, which is why I can create beautiful glazes in layers and smooth surface effects.

Sometimes I will use archival ink pens to capture very detailed and delicate lines. 

In my animal art paintings I strive to capture the spirit of animal subjects through graceful fluid lines, unifying decoration and aesthetics. I create my own personal interpretation of what I see and feel through color and visual expression of the subject.

LifeExpressions are paintings that people commission me to do either for a loved one, a special friend or even themselves. These very personal paintings are created for a specific individual and portrays the essence of what their unique passions are in life.

 

 

Fine Art Background

There were many art history, painting, illustration, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design classes during my entire art education. Communication design and website design were also a large part of the curriculum.

When I first started painting, I was always intrigued with people’s faces, especially eyes. My love for animals and using them as subjects in my art has always inspired me. And I was strongly influenced by dance at an early age, since I danced (tap and jazz) and performed for many years. This exhilarating feeling of how I felt when I danced was brought across visually in the art I painted or drew at that time, which were theatrical in nature. I have terpsichorean (to dance with delight, a muse of dancing) desires to dance and will always do so!

Several years after college I traveled to Europe and experienced art created by the Masters. I visited Paris twice, and was literally mesmerized by the paintings and sculpture seen at the Louvre Museum and the gardens and architecture at the Palace of Versailles. I experienced art in every country visited; Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, London and The Netherlands where I had the utmost pleasure in seeing Vincent Van Gogh's art up close and personal on a visit to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Closer to home in Washington, D.C., on one of my many trips there to see spectacular fine art, I visited the Phillips Gallery where I was within inches of my favorite Impressionist, Renoir and his painting, The Boating Party.

I was so overcome with emotion upon seeing his work…

I have been influenced by the Impressionist artists (Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet, to name just a few) the Art Nouveau period, notably artist, Alphonse Mucha, the Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist who lived in Paris during this time. He was best known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters.

Creating and seeing art has been like keeping a very personal journal throughout my life. It nourishes my soul like food does for my body. I could not live without it…

Tamara de Lempicka is my favorite painter of the Art Deco style with her stunning, self-expressive sculptural-like paintings, Gustav Klimt, the Austrian symbolist painter and member of the Vienna Art Nouveau (Vienna Secession) movement is another favorite, Salvador Dali and his wonderful surrealistic works (I painted in this style in college). Vincent Van Gogh, the Dutch post-impressionist painter with his bright and colorful landscapes and the use of his expressive and dramatic brushwork is another favorite.

I create my own personal interpretation in my paintings from what I believe in, using healing colors, expression of form and placement of the subject throughout the piece I’m working on.

 

I was lucky to have such wonderful art teachers in my life, early on. My college art professor inspired and encouraged me in so many ways which helped to establish myself as an artist.