interviews

Tell us a little about your background (education, studies, travels etc.) and how you got to be where you are now.
I’ve always been surrounded by creative people and grew up in a very creative home with my mom, an all around crafty superstar, and my dad always making and designing fun things.  Growing up sewing, crafting, and building gave me the confidence I have now to try making new things.

However, when I went to college, art was the furthest thing from my mind. I graduated with a degree in finance and management and a hope to ‘save the world’. After working for a non-profit for a bit, I grew frustrated and decided to strike out on my own. I switched into the creative world for the first time and began building and designing mosaic tables with inserts–like dishes and bowls built into the tables to hold sand gardens or plants.  The next three years I worked at an art supply store and received an invaluable education on materials. I fell in love with painting and left tables behind.  I sold my first painting through an employee group show and have been painting and selling work ever since.

What kind of sources do you draw on for inspiration? (i.e. other artists, locations, the natural world, your own life/experiences etc.)
Like so many artists, I draw much of my inspiration from the natural world.  You can see it in my poppy series and in the little plants and flowers in my map series. I love to simplify and abstract shapes of plants.  They are so pretty.  I am also inspired by man-made objects intersecting with the natural world – roads and buildings next to rivers or a green space, a native plant growing in an urban environment.  Color also plays an important part in my work.  I’m often inspired by all sorts of color combinations from landscapes, to silly things like our toothbrushes in their cup holder.  I’m always trying to memorize colors I like together to use in future paintings.

What is your favorite medium to work in and why? What other mediums do you experiment with or aspire to using/exploring?
If you came to visit my studio, you would find I have everything for watercolors, gouache, oils, acrylics, and monoprinting.  I don’t think I can pick a favorite.  I use them all since they all have aspects that I like.  I love the feel and color mixing of oils.  I love how fast acrylics are to dry and the texture you can easily add with mediums.  I love the softness of watercolors and gouache.  It is nice to be familiar with all of them, too, so when I have an idea for a new piece I can chose to work in the medium that will be the best for that piece.

Tell us a little about your process and how you create your work.
Each series I approach differently.  With the oils, I usually start by thinking about color combinations I would like to use then cut my wood panels to the size I want to work in.  After that, I gesso the board and do an under painting in acrylic to get the tones and composition down for the piece.  Once dry, I finish the painting in oil paint.  I also do a lot of staring and squinting and the painting for a couple of days to make sure I like it and make changes as I feel inspired.

The map series I start by picking out a part of a map that I would like to use and glue it down to a wood panel.  I then cover it with a clear acrylic gel to build up the thickness.  Once dry I cover it with a thin layer of oil paint to tint the background and give it that waxy look.  After that I draw out my design with archival ink and finish the painting with oil paint.  Each piece takes one to two weeks with all the drying times and steps.

We feature your smaller works at Tilde.  Do you work in larger sizes? And what is the largest art piece you have created?
The biggest I’ve gone in my map series is 36” x 36”.  I get a little limited based on how large of a map I can get for the background.  I’ve thought about collaging multiple maps together for a really large piece.  Someday.

The largest sizes I’ve done for my poppy lantern series is 48” x 48”.  I don’t know if I would want to go much larger than that since I really like painting on wood.   It starts getting pretty heavy and harder to support any bigger than this.

Are you picky about what maps you use?  How do you choose?

I often get asked if the final painting is inspired by the location on the map, and I’m afraid to say, it is not.  I am usually looking for colors and shapes I like in the map and hope that the viewer will just see enough of the blurred map to think ‘there is a map!’  I really like maps; I think they tell us all sorts of interesting things – where we are going, where we have been, where we would like to go.  A little like life.  But, I also know that the location in the painting is very important to some people and often do commission pieces with a specific location.  It makes the painting even more special or meaningful when it is from a location you have a connection with.

Where do you paint?  Do you have a studio or anyone to help you there?
My studio is in our basement.  It isn’t very fancy and I sometimes like to pretend it has beautiful windows looking out onto our garden, but it’s best that it didn’t or I would be too distracted.  I have it flooded with light and have a large worktable and movable wall to paint on.  It’s really nice for me to be able to work at home, but have it separated enough from the rest for the house so I can step away from it when I need to.  We have a very sweet two-year-old daughter that loves coming down to paint with me.  She often hangs her work all over the studio so we can view her ‘painting show.’

My husband, Jon, works with me part time and usually handles the online orders, printing, bookkeeping, and woodcutting. We are a good team.  I really couldn’t paint as much without him since those things take so much time and we are much busier now that we have a little one to chase around.

What advice do you have for young artists trying to find their way out there?
One of my favorite things is to encourage artists to go for it!   I started by painting as much as I could and showing in as many places as I could – coffee shops, cafés, group shows, etsy.  I was able to grow and develop as an artist while getting my name out there.  Learn from your mistakes and move on – don’t get hung up on a bad experience.  It’s important to have confidence in yourself and your art.  People can tell when you are proud of your artwork.

Any projects you’re currently working on?

Yes, I am so excited about a new map series I’m working on for a show at Tilde in May!  Sam Tudyk and I are doing a show together about maps and mapping.  I’ve wanted to make my own maps for a long time.  My collection of paintings will be of locations in Portland and the Northwest – abstracted and in rich, beautiful colors.  I’m trying to capture the mood of an area with color and shape  – and still have it be somewhat recognizable.  Here is my painting of Sauvie Island in Portland.  All the pieces for the show are either 9” x 15”  or 15” x 15”, but I’m hoping to do some really big pieces in the future.  Hooray!Tilde • 7919 SE 13th Ave • Portland, OR 97202
T: (503) 234-9600 E: info@tildeshop.com

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!