As a photographer, I am constantly in search of iconic imagery. The craftsmanship and perfection of classic Hollywood cinema have always been an inspiration and goal I seek to achieve in my photography. While enjoying the technology of the present and how that has enhanced photography, I am very drawn to recreate photographs that reference the best of the past. It is my intent that the viewer of the images I create will be taken out of the everyday present to a magical place where at anytime they would dream of going. Whether photographing people or nature, I strive to honor the best and beauty of all that I have an opportunity to capture with my camera.

Summer days are the dream moments of the year that are looked forward to in dreary seasons. The beach, pool, lakes, and oceans draw all to embrace the sun and beat the heat. When we think of summer, we embrace all that the warmth of the sun brings.

The path of my life as an artist was set with my first show. I was working on my master of Fine Arts from George Washington University. Since I was not required to attend classes in my final year but only to paint and write my master’s thesis, I decided to move to the south of France to a region where so many of my favorite artists had been inspired. I was painting in a village in Provence when someone stopped to look at my painting and asked me if I wanted to have a show in Monaco. It was my first show, and when it was successful, I decided that was what I wanted to do: travel, paint the people and places I saw, and figure out how to sell those paintings to earn enough for the next trip.

My travels became more and more exotic, starting in the Mediterranean and taking me to over 50 countries in Europe, Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. When I landed in the Sahara and met the nomads, I felt I had found a second home. Raised on a cattle ranch, I felt an affinity for the nomadic herders and lived and migrated with them for part of each year for 25 years.

On my second trip to the Sahara, I had been invited to travel with a rebel leader of the Tuareg insurgency. In the days before satellite phones and the internet, he wanted me to tell their story. Not knowing how, I said I would try.  This promise would color the rest of my life. I opened Nomad Gallery, which for 25 years showed the paintings of my travels and art forms I imported from the places I visited. As I came to understand the nomads’ culture, I became an expert advising ambassadors in an area considered too dangerous for them to visit and leading film crews and tourists.  Recognizing the poverty they lived in, I founded The Nomad Foundation to help my nomadic friends better their lives and preserve their traditions. My life as an artist had taken an unexpected turn. My curiosity and love of telling stories through my paintings led me to humanitarian work, which made a difference in the lives of thousands of nomads.

My artistic goal has always been to help my viewers understand and appreciate the people and places my travels take me, be it to Niger, Mongolia, India, or Indiana.

I intend these pictures as mythological footprints of conflicting values in our times. Present-day worship of the human body, the perfect physique – and its tangent to an ancient Greek concept, physical perfection as a mirror for spiritual perfection – is expressed here by the contrast of modern, live figures arrested in a moment of interaction with archetypal forms.

In Christianized Western civilization, depictions of naked male flesh have been closely associated with evil that the only way a nude male body could be tolerated as if it was being abused, punished, or mutilated – a sort of sadomasochistic expiation of unconscious guilt about merely having a body, whereas depictions of female nudity are culturally acceptable according to John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” because they provide opportunities for “acceptable” male possession whether in fact or desire.

My goal is to challenge contempt for the fully nude male figure, which is thought to be, at best, embarrassing and, at worst, indecent. My exploration involves placing homoerotic male nudes in intimate domestic locations, which engage the viewer either as voyeur or partner. The work is meant to challenge the viewer to examine their values and prejudices vis-a-vis intimacy and the nude male. My intent is to invite the viewer to confront their own beliefs and values about the naked body and to resolve for themselves the question of good and evil regarding nudity in general, and male nudity in particular, as well as provide a peacefully sensual way of drawing the viewer into a space that challenges heteronormative assumptions of male competition, and which demonstrates that same-sex relationships are wholesome, healthy and life-affirming.

Intuition guides me through my paintings as I create, sometimes with no goal in mind. Listening to my inner thoughts and feelings, I guide a myriad of brushes and tools on blank pages/substrates. Through many layers I ask and answer questions, adding and subtracting, and covering up parts. It takes patience and letting go of parts I love only to be covered up with my fascination with a new line, color, shape, or different mark.

It could be days, weeks, or months for one of my pieces to say “I am done and ready to share with others.” It is all part of the creative process: joy and gratitude in creating a piece of art.

My art takes viewers on a visual experience as they explore textures, and multiple layers and discover little surprises throughout the piece; basically an invitation to take their own journey as they view a piece of my art.

I currently live in Northeast Ohio with my husband and 2 dogs, having lived most of my life in Kansas and Missouri. After 20 years as a lampwork artist, I now find joy in creating intuitive acrylic abstract paintings. Many of my art pieces reflect my sights, emotions, and feelings abstractly inspired by nature’s beauty in NE Ohio.

I am especially drawn to subjects in nature with artistic potential. I often wished I could travel the world over, discovering new locations and subjects to photograph, but that was never an option for me. Like Robert Frost, I have taken the road less traveled. Now, at 86, I am no longer able to photograph out in nature the way I used to. Physical limitations have been hard to accept. Out of necessity, I have been forced to adapt. After years of straight unaltered nature photography, I am doing what was once unthinkable, altering my photographs using tools in Photoshop and a variety of plug-in filters. The purist in me is gone, but I still maintain a distinct difference between straight photography and the abstract images I create in Photoshop. While the choices in each filter package are limited, by using a combination of filters from a variety of filter packages, the potential to create unique images becomes infinite. Each new image begins with the selection of a single filter. It’s not a mindless endeavor. Quite the contrary, it’s the beginning of what often seems like a long and winding road. Inspiration comes during the process of creation. With each alteration ideas come to me, step by step along the way. I try different filters and combinations of filters, delete and clone out portions of the image, move things around, and sometimes crop the image. Unfortunately, some of the filters create artifacts when used in combination that must be painstakingly removed. I’ve spent hours, even days, spotting a single image only to give up and send it to the waste basket. Other images are set aside to work on later. The process can be tedious and challenging as each step moves the image in the direction I want it to go, but in the final moment of creation, when there is nothing I want to add or change, I feel that sudden ‘aha’ moment the Gestalt psychologists so beautifully described. It’s exhilarating, like diving off the high board for the first time. By then my original photograph is likely to be abstract beyond recognition. It has morphed into something unique that can not be reproduced by anyone else. Nature photography is all about finding a perfect subject and reducing the image to eliminate distracting elements. Art Photos, as I like to call them, require more creative energy on my part. As with both art mediums, inevitably the ‘aha’ moment fades and I am back looking for another image to work on.

For me, where art making is concerned, ‘truth’ and ‘beauty’ are my two guiding lights. I spend endless hours choosing my subject matter and working out harmonious compositions which are beautiful and evoke a sense of wonder & awe, firstly in me and then in my viewers. I seek to provide opportunities for people to stop and consider the beauty of creation, allowing it to feed their souls, give them a sense of grounding, and to guide them to observe the small, familiar things that are often overlooked. My inspiration comes from the natural, created world around me, and Classical Realism challenges me to render my subjects in the most ‘truthful’ way I can.

I use a ‘limited palette’ of only five colors from which I mix all the tints, tones & shades I need, and I paint on luxurious Belgian Linen as it is exceptionally durable and has a smooth, natural weave which is perfect for detailed work.

As an artist based in Gainesville, Florida, I aim to combine artistry, empathy, and resilience in my creative journey. From my theatre background to navigating personal challenges, art has been my compass. Through mediums like acrylics and pen and ink, I explore life’s complexities, inviting viewers to embrace resilience and share their light.

My journey is a testament to the transformative power of art in navigating life’s challenges and discovering purpose amid adversity. Driven by a deep passion for the arts, I received my theatre degree at UCLA and then went to Turkey, where I reconnected with my cultural roots while working both as an actress for the State Theatre and as a faculty member at a conservatory.

However, a pivotal moment in my personal life reshaped my path. Through a five-year legal battle, I fought for the right to adopt as a single woman in Turkey, ultimately changing laws and welcoming my son into my life.

Returning to the United States, I delved into nonprofit work and later ventured into Human Resources to provide stability for my child. During a personal tragedy with my mother’s cancer diagnosis and the onset of the pandemic, I rediscovered solace in art.

Spanning a diverse range of mediums and techniques, with a focus on acrylics through abstract art, my artwork reflects a unique perspective on life’s complexities. Art has always been my solace and my form of expression, helping me navigate through life’s trials. I am continually inspired by the resilience of the human spirit, the profound beauty of the cosmos, and the strength of inspirational women. My technique combines meticulous attention to detail with spontaneous expression, making my art unique in its genuine reflection of life’s dualities—light and dark, struggle and triumph.

My work explores the intersection of movement, texture, and wellness, using sports as both medium and muse. I paint with a basketball, rolling it across the canvas to create layers of texture and rhythm that echo the energy of the game. This process transforms athletic motion into abstract expression, turning something typically experienced on a court into a visual language of connection and vitality.

This method was born from a desire to merge my background in movement with my passion for creativity. Sports have always grounded me in presence — the same way painting does. Each piece is a translation of that physical, meditative experience: spontaneous, intentional, and deeply emotional.

Studio Matlyn, my creative practice, is where art, sport, and wellness converge. I aim to elevate the spaces we live, work, and move in by bringing the essence of play and discipline into visual form. My hope is that my work resonates with people who crave energy, texture, and a feeling of aliveness in their surroundings.

My pieces have been exhibited in New York City, St. Petersburg, and the Tennessee Titans Art Show. Whether shown in a gallery or a living room, my art invites people to experience the spirit of movement in a new, tangible way.

For decades, I have admired the still life paintings by Dutch artists of the 17th century. Not only do they give us a detailed view of Dutch culture, but they were painted in a style as realistic as photographs. Now, in the genre of what’s become known as “history photography,” I create still lifes with my camera, using classic approaches to composition and lighting. While never copying a painting, I re-interpret the historic themes, using only objects that would have been appropriate in the 17th-century paintings.

Reconsidering the art of another culture in another era – and making it relevant for us today – is a complex idea to bring to one’s photographs. Nonetheless, I hope that my work not only reinterprets the styles but also the spirit of the 17th-century Dutch – and through them, creates a reflection back onto our own culture.