Born in 1962, I
grew up in Paris,
France. As a child,
my favorite book was a small encyclopedia
with
reproductions of great masters paintings. I could stare for hours
at
the work of
Rubens and Delacroix. My
paternal grandmother was a painter and an
eccentric who fascinated me. Nothing at school interested me, except
drawing. I studied Applied Arts at the Lycee Auguste Renoir in
Paris. It was a
difficult three year program with forty hours of courses per week
including
twenty hours of art classes. And for the first time, I was doing well
in school.
Then I
attended the Rhoederer Academy of Fine Arts, in Paris, for one year.
From 1983 to 1987, I worked in the art department of advertising
agencies. There were no computer graphics in those agencies, everything
had to be
done by hand, with markers. It helped polish my drawing skills. When I
met my American husband, in 1987, we moved to New York
City, and I pursued my career in commercial art.
I started to paint after the birth of my first child, in 1989. At first
selling
my work to friends, family and doing murals for neighbors. But when
we moved to Santa Fe, five years ago, it became a full time job.
I took workshops with well known
artists, like Paul Leveille, Arne Westerman, Tony Rider, Roberta Remy,
John Encinias and David A. Leffel. My first show in
2001, was in Santa Fe, and the
SANTAFEAN and the PASATIEMPO chose
to publish my work. Then I started
to enter more prestigious juried shows, and won awards.
I am a Signature Member of the National Society of Artists and of the
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe
Art Club, an Associate Member of Oil Painters
of America, and a member of the Rio Grande Art Association.
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