Artist Statement
Each piece of blank, white paper has a voice that calls me to begin and search my inner self for new creative discoveries. The first strokes of color are the beginning of this process and there is a flow. I feel “guided” through the movement as each brushstroke must follow the preceding one. It is part accident, part plan but to a lesser degree, and mostly inspiration.
I let the gestalt come into play, “the parts are determined by the whole.” The inherent need for closure, balance and symmetry guide me. The work is finished when I feel there is no more to do.
Painting is an attempt to link the interpretation of my perceptions with the most honest expression of myself as an individual.
Debbie’s Bio
For me, art has always been a by-product of my daily life and I’ve always drawn and painted since I remember picking up a crayola. Over the years, many whom have remarked, “that I had talent”, have encouraged me. In elementary, junior and senior high schools I won completive art awards and was recognized and encouraged by my teachers to develop my creativity.
In college I majored in pre-med but, as a varsity tennis player, it proved too rigorous. I changed to sociology and art and graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University. For a brief time I attended the University of Hawaii and took advanced studio art courses.
My professional art career began as a medical illustrator in the College of Medicine at TAMU. For thirteen years I worked side-by-side with the anatomy students in the labs, prepared visuals for lectures and illustrated medical journals, books, and illustrations for the teaching physicians and instructors. I left the University to start my own company, Southern Rim Graphics, and to pursue my love – fine art watercolor painting.
My expressions in this media was recognized and I had several solo and invited exhibitions of my work. While living and working in College Station, Texas I had the wonderful opportunity to paint and teach in Italy and also in England and France. Especially in Florence I was drawn to the art history, the beautiful Tuscan landscape and the distinct quality of the light. All remain in my memory and are important to my career today.
My husband and I moved to Santa Fe in 2005. In the southwest I rediscovered the light, the landscape and Mediterranean architecture that influenced me in Italy. The breathtaking sunrises, the dynamic sunsets and unique desert and alpine vegetation have become much of the inspiration for my art. Every day, when I look out of my studio, I am overwhelmed by the vastness of space and the minimal landscape that is dominated by the distant horizon. Recently, to capture these impressions, I have “gone big” with my compositions, invented new techniques and have added more vibrant hues.
My watercolors are simply my interpretations of these things: the horizon, the landscape, and floral studies.