Where are you from? Old Town, Maine 

Have you always want to be a working artist? I knew I wanted to be some kind of visual artist when I was 7 years old.

What has been the most challenging part of getting to where you are now? Persevering through hardship and never knowing when the next sale will happen has been very challenging.  

Advice to other creatives who are trying to become working artists? Always do your best work and the right people will notice.   

How has where you've lived influenced your work? My environment has been very influential in my work, in terms of the subjects I paint, the people I know through teaching and exhibiting, and my friends and peers who always inspire me through their own work.  

How has Newburyport specifically influenced your work? Living in Newburyport has provided me with endless subject matter and inspiration for my paintings, and the opportunity to make a living as a painter and art instructor through its ever evolving appreciation of arts and culture. 

Do you have a favorite subject? The play of light.

Do you gravitate to certain color palette? I guess it depends on which series I'm working on.  I love the full range of color in plein air painting, and also enjoy working with a limited monochromatic palette in my figure studies and jazz portraits.  

Do you have any pre-painting rituals? A short nap always clears my head for afternoon painting.

Your paintings on wood are beautiful. Tell us about working with different mediums. Do you pick the surface for the image or the image first? I sometimes save a particular wood panel for its suitability for landscape imagery, and others for figurative work when the grain moves a certain way. More than some other media that I use, the choice of image and surface is very closely connected. In terms of the medium, I love using acrylics on untreated wood surfaces, as the absorbency of the dampened surface allows for subtle blending that is difficult to achieve with that medium otherwise, such as on primed canvas. Sometimes I prime the surfaces with gesso, other times I stain them with acrylics.  I also use oils on wood. 

Do you drink coffee or tea? Yes! I enjoy both, but I'm more of a coffee drinker. 

Have you ever put your paint brush in your drink instead of the water cup? Yes. But not recently.

Dream studio? Someday I hope to have a huge studio space with skylights.  But I'm very happy with what I have now.   

Wackiest assignment you had in art school? I don't know if it's wacky, but it was certainly challenging to draw a room full of drawing tables covered with cups, saucers and all manner of objects.  

Do you teach? Yes, I teach drawing and painting and I love it more and more.