Fisheye view of my studio

My studio is #339, located on the third floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia.  You are welcome to stop by for a visit.  I am always open to the public.

I love going to my studio.  

It is my sanctuary.  Painting and creating a visual image is a joyful experience for me.  It is a release, an expression of a feeling, and sometimes a glimpse into a fantastical world.  

When I work without a reference, letting the image develop completely out of my imagination, it is like painting a dream as it is happening…except I am awake and in control.  It is truly one of my favorite ways to work.

Rochelle watching Synavista filming me at work.

When I paint a commissioned portrait I strive for realism.  I need a reference, like photographs or a live model.  I want to capture a subject’s personality.  This is my goal for both people and animals.  The depth of expression in a subject’s eyes is important.  It has been said that ‘the eyes are the windows to the soul.’  I think the eyes can bring a portrait to life.  I learn a lot by doing portraits.  It is very educational.

I am an artist that would try every medium if I had the time.  I love to explore.  Case in point; sometimes visitors will look around my studio and ask me which work is mine….it’s all mine.  All of those artists are me.  I just cannot paint the same subject, the same way forever.

Cairns, piles of stones, are a recurring theme.  In 2000, while hiking in Sedona, Arizona, I became fascinated and inspired when I unexpectedly came upon a field filled with hundreds of cairns.  My first Stone Series consisted of over one hundred paintings.  

Eventually my interest moved away from the stones.  Even though the series was very popular and selling well, I needed to move on.  I was rocked out.  I painted a Seascape Series, then a Seashell Series.  Then the rocks came back…entirely different.  A new Stone Series emerged.  The Stones have been through several incarnations.

Please come by and see what is new in the studio.  You are always welcome and I am always exploring.

For a glimpse of the studio before you drop by, this brief video shows me working on an abstract painting a few years ago.