Butler County
Fine Art
I have been a lifelong student of fine art. I originally studied oils with famed artist DAVID ZUCCARINI in his atelier in Ellicott City, Maryland for seventeen years. There I learned to paint in the style of the Dutch Masters. Many of my fellow students were already commissioned portrait artists when I was a brand-new art student.
Since that time, I have had many portrait commissions myself and some of my oil paintings were reviewed by the Washington Post Newspaper as part of a student show article. I became interested in watercolor some thirty years ago and produced many botanicals and portraits in watercolor.
An unusual creation of mine, having been a combination of both pastels and silverpoint, was a featured cover of The Journal of Orthodontics. This fun piece was the result of a photograph of my friend's travels to Indonesia depicting a huge lion like totem with two rows of teeth. I used silver point in combination with the pastels to create braces and wires on the two layers of teeth!
In my creative career I have used vintage fabric to design a line of children's clothing. I also owned my own catering company with two partners where food became my art form.
These days I am working in cerne relief, resin and gouache as well as designing fabric digitally. In the past year I have made several resin and cerne relief paintings that have been used for windows.
I have two studios. One in my home and another location in Greenville, Alabama. My resin work has been heavily influenced by living in Camellia City.
The most rewarding aspect of my art creation from concept to completion, is the vision of the process and the calm that comes to me. Within this timeless space, all else melts away and I feel at peace. Upon completion, there is a great deal of happiness that comes from having someone share your vision and appreciate it.
Having studied photo-realism and developing the skills to replicate anything in oils, watercolors, charcoal, pencil, acrylics and pastels I one day had a significant and life changing conversation with my father.
My father had always supported me in my art endeavors by paying for my classes and my art supplies when I was a student and a young mother. On this day he said, "Debs, you can replicate anything. You are a copyist, please, let me see art." If my father were alive today, he would be 114 years old and very happy to know that I finally found my own path to original art.