My inspiration and imagery for my paintings come from a love of my small Lebanon county town, Lawn, Pa., where my home and studio are located. The beautiful, rolling countryside of our Pennsylvania thrills me. I see paintings in the scenes from the endless mountains of Tunkhannock to the soft plowed fields of Water Works or from the lively cottages of Eagles Mere to the feisty waters of the Youghiogheny.

Many of my landscapes are plein aire with a nice loose style. My depictions of people are consistently realistic renderings. Historical depictions, acoustic music scenes and musicians are the subjects that dominate my future watercolor work. This series challenges me to convey a depth of thought and strength of spirit in the people who are being represented. In addition to this I am experimenting with acrylics using abstract shapes to depict emotionally "bent" objects. Stay tuned for those.

I have seriously started painting only this last year but had art as an obsession all of my waking life. As the daughter of an architect and an art teacher there was nowhere to hide. I sold my first paintings when I was eight years old. However I was convinced that engineering drafting was my future. I made my living as a drafter eventually becoming a drafter/cartographer. My first artworks after a 15-year abstinence from fine art were drawings with poetry intertwined in realistic pencil images. It was a natural progression. In essence I was drawing rendered objects with words which can be defined as a map. New in 2008 my first poetry chapbook has been self-published and will be available from this web site.

Since a little over a year ago I have had the privilege of being able to take watercolor from Larry Lombardo. Larry and the fine artisans in his studio all have greatly influenced me. The loving care that we have for each other helps us to have the confidence to reach our goals. I can't be more thankful to Larry and all my friends in these sessions.

In 2008 I won Second Place in Watercolor at the Harrisburg Art Association Membership Show. In 2007, I won seven blue ribbons in the Lebanon and Elizabethtown Fairs. This was a small but delightful step forward and I highly recommend the experience to everyone.

  Musician

Evelyn May took a small girl of three and a half years young and asked her to make three finger chords on the piano next to her ragtime, blues, jazz and classical keyboard artistry. She had just come from California to live with us after becoming ill. My chubby little hands would search out melody and harmony as she sang and played standards from the 20, 30 and 40's I lost my Grammy four years later never to loose the legacy of creativity she gifted to her only grand daughter who felt the music in her fingers.

Mandolin came into my life in 1999 when my mother-in-law gave our family the Kline banjo mandolin. My teachers have been and are Nev Jackson - Annville, Pa, Ken Gehret - West Lawn, Pa,  Emory Lester and Mark Wesling - Hershey, PA. 

Lessons for art or beginning mandolin and guitar may be scheduled and attended at Elizabethtown's Winter Heritage House Museum, South Londonderry Township building in Campbelltown and at my studio in Lawn, PA. 

Also I can be seen and heard at local jams and coffeehouses. 

 Here's to the future of great visions, new sounds and inspiring words to discover and share.   Thank you for your time.

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