I started drawing around age two. I would see my mother draw and paint, in her dramatic, graphic way (as she watched her father before her). I would make up stories about a duck, drawing and narrating each scene, flipping the easel paper over for the next scene. At school, I would illustrate my story assignments. Then they became all words. Art was my life-long hobby. Writing, and teaching writing, became my profession. They switched positions when I retired from teaching.

In both, I was, and am, concerned with where the subject was/is going--be it a person, plant, or landscape. How can I help convey this? It’s an on-going question. Sometimes, I address this more exclusively through emotion, as in my abstracts. Occasionally, I am quite literal in my details. I prefer the in-between, letting my viewer’s imagination complete the picture.

I’m drawn to the movement and surprises of watercolor. I like how photography can depend on spontaneity. I want my art to help us appreciate ourselves and others, and what’s around us. I try to show how I see this now, or, at times, as how I imagine it was.

I look for understanding, and for hope.

Honorable Mention
Photography: “Two Boys on a Log”
Tewksbury Historical Society Art Show, NJ, 2023

First Place
Photography: “The Time is Now: Lockdown in SoHo, 2020”
Warren County Arts Spring Show, NJ, 2022.

AWARDS

I regularly show my work, juried and non-juried, in local (from Eastern Long Island to Philadelphia) and national shows. Gallery shows include The Firefly Artists Gallery (Northport, NY) Aug. 2024 and Red Bluff Gallery 3-D Virtual (Red Bluff, CA) May-Jun. 2024 and Sept. 2022

Books
Here and There (ink), The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, New York, Vol. 15, 2020. Call number 417.01-03. #S268396

One February--Life of a Downtown New Yorker in 2019: A Sketchbook (ink), The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, New York, Vol. 14, 2019. #S243633

Illustrations
“Achillea filipendulina” (ink and watercolor), “Achillea millefolium” (ink and watercolor), “Drying Yarrow” (ink). In Yarrow, Herb of the Year. International Herbal Society (IHS), 2024.

”Partying Ginger” (ink and watercolor), “Laughing Ginger” (ink), “Zingiber officinale” (ink). In Ginger, Herb of the Year. International Herbal Society (IHS), 2023.

“Viola cornuta (pen and watercolor), “Viola x wittrockiana” (pencil and watercolor), “Long-Stemmed Viola cornuta” (watercolor). In Viola, Herb of the Year. IHS, 2022.

“Rooted Parsley,” “Parsley Sprigs” (gouche). In Petroselinum crispum, Herb of the Year: Parsley. IHS, 2021.

“Blackberry Leaf” (ink), “Blackberries” (ink). In Rubus, Herb of the Year: Blackberries, Raspberries, et al. IHS, 2020.

“Agastache” (5 views; ink). In Agastache, Herb of the Year: Anise-Hyssop 2019.

“Hop Leaves” (ink), “Hops Flowers on Bine” (ink), “Hops Pole, Leaning” (ink), “Bine-Piece” (ink). In Herb of the Year: Hops Humulus. IHS, 2018.

“Coriander Sketches” (ink), “Coriander Flower” (pencil), “Coriander Leaves on a Stem” (ink). In Herb of the Year: Coriander/Cilantro Coriandrum sativum. IHS, 2017.

“Sweet Pepper Plant” (ink). In Herb of the Year: Peppers Capsicum. IHS, 2016.

interior and cover: Wood, Gail. Good Girl, NY: Lasso Press, 2016.

American Watercolor Society
Garden State Watercolor Society
Musconetcong Watercolor Group
National Watercolor Society