What is your medium now? (oils, acrylic, pastel, watercolor...) What medium have you always wanted to use, but haven't yet? What mediums have you used in the past? Why do you prefer your current medium?

In my case the question should be what are your mediums now? I've had some experience working with oil in the past, and am now using it for most of my landscape work. I continue to work in watercolor and have used it for some plein air painting. I am also a printmaker working with zinc plates and aquatint. Of these I find oil to be best choice for plein air work. Making garden sculpture would be something I might try in the future.

On the monthly paintouts, how do you decide what to paint? What draws your eye to a particular scene?

I usually have a difficult time choosing the "perfect" subject, which can cut into valuable painting time. Yet at the critiques I see great paintings by other members of a vista I had thought not interesting enough. I need to work on judging the "paint-ability" of an area quickly. I love open fields with treelines and rambling vistas. (When I was in Tuscany, that's all I saw.)

Do you prefer to sit or stand when you are painting? Why?

I usually stand to paint in oil. A chair is nice to take a break, but cumbersome to carry. Standing can allow one to see a longer distance. Walking away from the canvas to review it is crucial to painting, and if one is sitting that may happen less often (as anyone who sits in front of a computer knows).

Describe how you title your artwork. Does it help to market a painting if the title is a familiar location to your buyer? (Bonus: what has been your favorite title?)

There are times when I put way too much time in naming a painting or print. Sometimes it's easy to give a work a simple title. More often I struggle to find the right words to convey my feeling about the work. Once, during a period when my son was gravely ill, I did an aquatint of three sheep--mother, father and nursing lamb in a meadow at dusk and named it "Evensong" which is evening prayer.

A miniature aquatint I did of two horses grazing, facing each other with heads practically touching in the late afternoon of a golden day, I named "Sweet Spot."

I usually steer away from using the name of the location in my title unless it's well known. Let the buyers come to their own conclusions, and they are more likely to imagine an area they might know or like.

Though most of us prefer working outdoors, do you prefer a studio where you live or maintaining a separate space? Why?

I have never been interested in having a studio away from home. Before we built my studio, I would work in any available room in my house. I definitely like the home setting and easy access to my studio.

What does your studio look like?

About 10 years ago my husband determined to build me a studio. We had envisioned a small room off the end of the house, but my architect brother strongly encouraged us to think big! So we built a 18 x 30 foot room with mostly northern exposure and many windows. We had the drywall done, but we did practically everything else. The floor is tile and I acquired from a friend a long unit of flat files and cabinets and countertop.

When did you first want to become an artist? (And when did you realize you were one?)

Did you draw or paint as a child? What were your subjects? As a child in first grade, I realized I loved doing the drawing and coloring required, and my work seemed to draw the attention of my classmates. I remember drawing elephants at the circus, horses, and a reindeer looking through a dutch door into a room filled with Christmas presents under a decorated tree (this was an all too common theme). Later I was into girls' heads and fashion drawing. Later when I had an actual art period in high school, we painted in gouache and landscape was my favorite subject. I was determined to study art in college (which I did).

Are there any other artists in your family? (including all the arts)

My two brothers and sister have all been involved in art in one way or another. My oldest brother is musically inclined, and, although following another career, he has played and composed music throughout his life., in addition to woodworking two beautiful mandolins, and countless pieces of fine furniture. My other brother went to Pratt to study art, then transferred to Virginia Tech to study architecture, which resulted in a distinguished career. My sister has painted in the past as well as weaving and spinning. She is studying watercolor now and is an ardent plein-air painter.

Which artists (past or present) do you turn to for inspiration? Why?

I really admire the California impressionists, especially William Wendt, Edgar Payne, and Granville Redmond, who were California plein-air painters at the turn of the century. Seeing the varied and colorful California landscape as it was then.

If you could travel anywhere to paint, where would you go and what would you like to paint?

If I didn't have a passport I'd get on a plane for Sonoma and the wine country above San Francisco, but since I do, I would head straight to Italy. After purchasing local wine, cheese, bread and olives, I would settle in to paint the glorious countryside of the Tuscany region. The landscape there goes way back in distance and time. The rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves, and red tile roofs are inspiration enough for a lifetime.

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