I paint colorful oil paintings that explore color, composition and texture. My subject matter centers around landscapes, and flowers. On vacation I am quite a dawdler (thank you to my patient husband), taking photos and making mental notes about what I want to paint later. I always take photographs to capture the moment and record my thoughts. I usually compose images in my sketchbook or on the computer. I decide what size suits the image I want to paint. I then begin by making my own custom-sized wood panels to get the exact proportions I want. I like to apply a base color before painting. I choose this based on what the painting is and what will look nice peeking through the top layers. Then I apply thicker paint in slightly exaggerated colors. I like texture in my work and use a palette knife and brush, along with a scraper. The scraper allows me to draw into or remove some of the top layers of paint and expose the underpainting. My studio is outside of Washington DC in Northern Virginia.