I live and work in a 13th century Tuscan flour mill with my husband Robert, who has a hot air balloon business. Our nearby village Montisi and its surrounding countryside provide me with rich inspiration for my painting, as do our collection of animals—pigs, cats, hens and a dog.
My life in Italy started in 1976, when I decided to come to Florence and study painting with Patrick Hamilton and with Signorina Simi. I was not an abstract painter and a friend had told me that Florence was not only the place for figurative painting, but also the place to learn about the use of materials and making canvases.
This experience changed my life so much that when, in 1984, I was given an opportunity to paint for a year at a private home near Siena, I stayed on in Tuscany.
Whatever subject matter I choose to do, I always return to paint the landscape from the middle of some field. This is the constant in my work, although I get inspired by many things and my subject matter has been gardens, the sea, still-lives, and at present, I’m working on aerial paintings from the balloon.
Painting is a wonderful continuing puzzle, because as soon as I think I’ve resolved a problem, I find I am back there again struggling to sort out yet another concept.
As Degas said, “To be an artist, you have to be as cunning as a thief.”
Join my adventure on my blog Earth, Wind, Fire.