I see the world surrounding me as if it were a fine painting.  Unusual shapes and vibrant colors attract my attention.  A deeper meaning behind the realism of the moment, capturing a feeling with color, texture, lines and shadows I find is both challenging and rewarding.

I am fortunate to have grown up surrounded by loving and artistic parents. I visualized my world thru their eyes, as I suppose most children do   I listened to beautiful music created by my father who could hear a melody and later sit at the piano and play for the enjoyment of us all.  My mother’s art showed at first in her home décor and later in beautiful ceramics worthy to be shown in the finest shops.  I tried to bring my mother’s flair for decoration into my own home but I never thought in terms of delving into anything artistic

When I retired I found myself living on a sailboat looking forward to a new adventure. A dear friend, whom I will forever thank, invited me to attend an art class at a near by community college with her.  I instantly fell in love with oil painting.  It seemed with each stroke, a new and exciting world was opening up to me.  I continued taking a few more classes and with each one I gained confidence and truly felt I had a talent for creating art others would find pleasing as well. 

Living all my life in the Pacific Northwest my first paintings reflected those beautiful surroundings.  I found enjoyment in painting subjects such as flowers, cranes, boats, scenic water and beach motifs, birds and an occasional still life. I also liked to paint scenes on pails, boxes, clocks and anything that would hold still. 
 

Now that I’ve become a resident of the Southwest I have enjoyed the art of many talented painters and creators of fine crafts.  Being in the southwest has opened a new and glorious palette of rich colors that I’ve brought into my paintings.

I am again fortunate in that I had found a warm and friendly, and very accomplished artist and teacher, the late Peggy Pitts, who helped me to paint southwest motifs.  Peggy also was a New Mexico transplant.  She inspired me to make my paintings reflect my new surroundings, that of Native Americans, pueblos, baskets and pots and have them show the vibrant colors of the southwest.

 I am now learning not only to expand my artistic horizons but how to incorporate some of the finer points of art into my paintings under the competent guidance of another fine artist and teacher, Annette Kornbrekke. 

I am a new member of the Rio Rancho Art Association and have been exposed to the exciting world of sharing my art with others.   I find that now I am in a position to market my art and be available to do commission paintings in areas of my expertise.

 I may be contacted at my e-mail address:  Raggedyannj50@hotmail.com