When I was painting my friends, family, and myself in grad school (all women), I was looking at a ton of paintings of women in the interior for ideas. Here were some of my favorite finds and ones that I still look at today. Hiroshi Sato Richard Diebenkorn Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Matisse Sandro Chia David Park Berthe Morisot Pierre Bonnard Malcolm Liepke Darren Thompson Leon de Smet Edward Hopper Jan Sluijters Gabriele Munter Cuno Amiet Pierre Bonna

A few years ago I saw the artwork of Jarid Del Deo and Alex Griffin. I saw their works in Philadelphia and NYC. I love how they take an evening moment and show us how to see that scene from an unexpected perspective. Deo's tight crops make us look at not these grandiose landscapes involving so many elements but zoom in on a smaller piece of the puzzle that is as important to look at. I love the patterns he comes up with in the clouds, bark, water, grass...and how he paints th

I was introduced to the Group of 7 Canadian Painters 6 years ago when I was taking night painting classes in Boston. Their work truly resonated with me and my love for the upstate NY region. The Group of 7 was comprised of all male painters. In the last few years, I've made efforts to look at more female painters and I discovered a group that was aligned with these male Canadian painters, but were women. Their group was called the Beaver Hall Hill Group. The Beaver Hall Hill

During a painting session, I had a professor come up behind me and say, "you really like drawing don't you?" ...My process of painting starts with a drawing, which, can take quite some time. Some fellow painters just block in big masses of color and then from there start to find within those abstract shapes the drawing of what they're seeing. I would love to get there at some point but I like to start with a loose drawing and then go into the drawing with the paint. Here are

When it comes to cropping and creating a composition, I try to find ways to have quirky cropping that doesn't look like a cliche "kodak moment". Something more off-kilter. And with color, I find myself attracted to color palettes of blues, purples, pinks...sometimes moments of neon colors adding a little pop. These artists are masters of composition and color. Paul Wonner Linda Christensen Linda Christensen Jennifer Pochinski Elmer Bischoff Richard Diebenkorn Pierre Bonnard E

How can I push these water scenes, these landscape scenes even further? Heightened color choices, more patterns, changes in composition, expressive mark making, abstracting a scene more... These are some things that I'm constantly thinking about while painting: "how to simplify, but identify", "what colors can I put next to each other to make the other pop and sing more, even if it's not a color there in real time", "are all of the colors and their temperatures speaking to ea

A professor of mine told me to look at Jane Freilicher and I was so intrigued by her still lifes. She subtly abstracted these inside/outside scenes - beautiful and bountiful bouquets in the foreground and an outdoor scene we see through a window: a cityscape, seascape, landscape... I love this back and forth we get of looking at the main subject matter in the foreground and then looking through the window at another important subject matter, and then bouncing back to the bouq

I've enjoyed spending the last week documenting more quiet moments up here at the river. I told a professor of mine that some of my favorite artwork isn't the loud, large, and chaotic masterpieces like "Wanderer above the Sea Fog", "Liberty Leading the People", or "The Slave Ship" . My favorite pieces to look at are quieter and more personal. I learned about the word sublime at PAFA. It is work that's aim is to overwhelm the viewer with awe, power, drama, or emotional intens

I went to the MoMa this past spring with my mom and was in awe of so many wonderful pieces - both well known masterpieces that I had the privilege of seeing in person and less known artwork I'd never heard of before but was so inspired by. See some of my favorites below "Mme Kupka among Verticals" , Frantisek Kupka "I and the Village", Marc Chagall "Woman Reading", Lucie Cousturier "The Woman-Horse" , Marie Laurencin "Still Life with Three Puppies", Paul Gauguin "Study for L

One of my professors told me at PAFA to find the artists whose work you admire and just study it, stare at it, memorize it, take it in... Think about color, composition, depth of space, positive and negative space, light, lines, Here are the artists and artwork I've been flooding my mind with recently: Grant Drumheller: The Group of 7 Canadian Painters Pierre Bonnard: Fairfield Porter Milton Avery Edvard Munch Another song I've been listening to a lot this summer! My summer b

I haven't written a blog post in over a year! I was encouraged to get back into it so here I am. Maybe this will help me as I think about my art practice. Now that I'm on summer break, I have more time to think about my own art, creative process, and inspiration. Throughout the school year I'm bogged down with creative ideas for my students, managing classrooms, and everything else that comes from teaching 6-12th graders. I had an ah-ha moment last night of what I wanted to w

It's been a while since I've written a blog post. I'm a little busy with life right now. I moved from Philadelphia, PA to Summerville,...

A professor of mine during a critique saw what I was wrestling with on a new piece and recommended I go see Elizabeth Geiger's work at...

Living in my first "adult apartment" here in Philly has me thinking about what artwork I might want to display on my walls. I started...

At least once a year, I try to make a trip to Charleston, SC to go to galleries. One of my favorites is the Robert Lange Gallery. The...

I "fly south" for winter every year to spend time with my parents in South Carolina. While neither of them are artists, they both love...

I have two more weeks of school before winter break. Final reviews are Dec 15 and 16. I've been working on canvas all semester and have...

I was selected to be a part of the 215 610 Contemporary Art Exhibition at the Delaware County Community College (about 30 minutes west of...

Today, I had a moment in my animation class where I just started spacing out during a lecture and just started thinking about...

I love stumbling upon new artists online on instagram, pinterest,... and while falling in love with art online isn't the same as in...