Frequently Asked Questions
“Do you prefer to paint in oils or pastels?”
I enjoy them equally. The oils are more physical with mixing the paint and moving it around with brushes of all sizes. Pastel painting is more about drawing since the pigment is in stick form. The eye blends the colors in a pastel painting.
“Do you work from photos after you take your trips?”
I try to paint as much as possible on a trip, creating as few as 12 and as many as 25 paintings in a two week period. The larger oils are done in my studio, as are the pastels, from photos that I take along the way. I am a horrible photographer, however, but the pix help me remember key things about the site.
“How many paintings do you do in a year?”
I average about 100.
“How long does it take you to do a painting?”
I should answer ‘all my life’ because each painting leads you to the next one and helps you learn from your mistakes and successes. However, the paintings I complete on-site take about 3 hours, due to the changing light. Studio paintings take several hours, sometimes days. I prefer the freshness of the quick ones though!
“Do you do paintings on commission?”
Much of my work in the past 2 years is commission, both for homes and office space.
“What is your favorite country to paint?”
I love each one for different reasons, but I could go back to Italy many times to paint there. Chicago is one of my favorite cities to capture on canvas—it has such a European feel with all the green space we have now.
“Do you ‘fix’ your pastels?”
I never do—I feel that dulls them. I do work on a ‘toothy’ board, which grabs the pastel well. I also give it a good slapping from the back before I frame it!
“Do you do your own framing?”
Absolutely! I often have the frame in mind long before the piece is completed. I began a framing company when I was in graduate school to pay my expenses, and it’s grown into a wonderful business with thousands of clients over the years. I added an assistant in 2000 to help with the design and finish work, but I still join the frames, cut the mats and glass, and install the completed job, when necessary.
“Why is glass used on some of your work?”
The pastels require glass to keep them from getting smudged. I always use museum AR glass to keep the reflections at bay. I use UV filtering plexiglass on the watercolors to keep them from fading. The oils do not have glass unless they’re oils on paper.
“Who does your prints?”
My husband, Ron, in our basement! He photographs the original painting with a very hi-resolution digital camera, then color-matches his file to the original. That file is saved and only after the original painting is sold, will he publish prints.
“How long do the prints last?”
The archival inks and acid-free papers he uses are guaranteed to last 75-100 years or more without fading.
“What does Giclée mean?”
Giclée is a French word meaning ‘to spray’—it’s an ink-spray process where each print is produced one-at-a-time. This is a revolutionary development for artists who can have prints made on-demand, rather than paying upfront for an entire edition of several hundred prints.
Contact us with more questions…we may add them to this list!