CAL aims to help artists succeed, whether that's offering skill building classes, the opportunity to exhibit work in our gallery, or sell work in our Gift Gallery. Our Artist on Display series invites you to get to know our artists a little bit better!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

PG: Who am I? I am a retired oncology nurse but have had many jobs over the years from hospital administration and vocational rehabilitation to teaching sewing and quilting. I’m a wife, mom, and grandmother and sometime community volunteer. This is my sixth year serving on the CAL board. I volunteered at my children’s school library for many years.

PG: Other than being in my studio, which is half of our family room, my favorite place is a library or a bookstore.

PG: I don’t really think I choose to create, it is just something I have always done and feel compelled to do.

PG: My first memory of the joy and mystery of painting was when I was very small and visited my grandfather’s garage studio. I have never forgotten the smell of oil paint, linseed oil and Camel cigarettes.

PG: My first art show was a CAL show at Central Bank (Boone County Bank then) in the 80’s where I won first place in fiber. My first entry in a CAL show was an art quilt. I think I was responsible for the addition of size limitations on art submissions! I still sew a lot of my clothes but gave up on quilts quite a while ago. They took way too long when I was working and had kids at home. Storage became an issue as well.

Turning to paint

PG: I started playing with oil paints, ruined many brushes and finally took Shannon Soldner’s class at CAL to learn how to work with them. I love that oil paints don’t dry out quickly. I love that you can mix them on the canvas and it turns out I can just use my fingers.

PG: I very rarely use brushes with oil paint. It was almost a phobia that a brush would mean that an image would actually have to look like something specific. That has always been difficult for me. I don’t draw well and have never had the patience to put in the practice time needed.

PG: There is nothing I like more than just starting a blank canvas and smearing on the first color, then adding another and then another, working and reworking until it becomes done.

Themes and inspirations

PG: I work intuitively and although I don’t normally try to paint something real, my paintings usually wind up as abstract landscapes.

PG: The theme that I am especially interested in is the power of nature and how small and often misguided we humans are. We think we know so much until nature shows her power.

PG: The contrasting theme is the resilience of man, how we will rebuild and rebuild, how tenacious we are.

PG: I also paint just for the joy of seeing color. Encaustic (hot wax mixed with oil pigments) has become another medium for its strong, luminous color and that, like oil paint, is tactile and moveable.

Exhibiting work

PG: The monochrome show was a challenge. I decided to do tiny monochrome pictures of the primary colors. I tried to show just how many variations of those colors I could make in a tiny space. That piece really represents the opposite of monochrome.

PG: I love the Art League community. It is a very welcoming place for all levels of artists. It’s easy to enter shows and I’ve found that the other artists are mostly just like me: somewhat nervous to put out their work for all to see, fearful of being judged, generally introverted but brave in the end and very friendly.