I refer to myself as a “paper artist” because I love working and exploring art that involves paper. I work primarily in collage mixed media art. I love the challenge of planning and working from the back of a piece forward. It is an exciting challenge for me to try to figure out how to make the pieces work and how to establish relationships between materials. These relationships create the mood of my pieces. Though my art is considered abstract, viewers will recognize my subject matter, sometimes even using familiar landmarks to jog a memory or emotion. My aim is to have the viewer drawn into the piece to explore the emotion, composition, materials, textures of my pieces. The colors that I use are strong and bold. I wouldn’t do it any other way because it represents me and how I feel as I have passed the threshold of 60 years. I’m a lifelong learner and study any techniques involving paper. Botanical Eco-dying on paper and machine sewing on paper are my recent explorations. Using blooms and leaves from my gardens, I dye all summer long preparing for Winter when blooms and botanicals are scarce. This creates a great addition and playfulness to my collage work.