I love to paint. My grandmother was a painter, and so was my mother. I think they taught me to see the beauty in my life, to arrange the things around me for maximum enjoyment. By painting those arrangements, I’ve found that I can share with others the beauty and interest I find in common things.

Flowers are my favorites, and nearly all my still life paintings will include flowers or plants in some way. Often they contain old things that were beautiful when they were made and are now enhanced by their rarity. Family treasures seem to find a natural place in my arrangements, perhaps because family is the basis of my life.

The still life is for me, an approach with which I can consistently symbolize everything I want to express in paintings. With the use of color and composition I arrange elements as landscapes and portraits – the still life. It allows me more opportunities for individual expression. It is more than a landscape or portrait because I am able to create an environment with endless possibilities.