It’s a wonderful thing, being an artist, living in Alaska. There is much inspiration to be drawn from our seasons, the landscape, mountains, rivers, the people, and my favorite subject, the birch trees.

The local color is all around us. That is what we see with our eye. What I truly enjoy is interpreting that color via watercolor. The pinks, reds, blues, purples and ochres in snow, that are so well hidden unless you stop to really see them. The same can be said for our clouds, with colorful grays, intermixed with blues in the sky. My inspiration comes from all of this, my mind’s eye seeing the colors that will eventually make up a finished painting.

I’ve had the opportunity to participate in workshops over the last few years with local watercolor artists Tom Nixon and Vladimir Zhikhartsev. I have also studied with Frank Francese, Sharon Freeman, Ron Ranson and most recently Carl Purcell. I taught my first workshop in October 2009. It is very rewarding to teach, to pass on what I have learned so far. The beauty and color of the Alaskan landscapes gives many ideas for subject matter and lends itself well to a variety of styles of painting.

I am also currently inspired by the works of Stephen Quiller (his use of color is really something else), John Salminen , Alvaro Castagnet, Joseph Zbukvic, and Nicolas Simmons.

Fairbanks has been home for over 42 years, and every day I count myself blessed to be able to live here and put some scenes down on paper.

“Winter Fields” was painted on Arches 140 cold press watercolor paper, using paints by Daniel Smith, and a combination synthetic and kolinsky natural hair brushes. The painting was done using a wet in wet technique for the background and then drybrush technique for the birch and details.