Where did you study art?
I studied on my own--no classes, but I have devoted most of my free time for the last 10 years to developing my work.

What challenges have you had in your career?
Big ones would be finding a balance between painting and running my business, making the right decisions regarding my future career.

How did you overcome these, or learn to live with them?
I just go by my gut/instinct and remember that there is always a solution to every problem.

What type of studio space do you use for your work?
I have a room on the 1st floor of my house that is my studio and office. It's starting to get cramped and I am dreaming of a larger space...

What is most important to you in the creation of your work?
I think the overall feeling of the finished piece is most important--if it doesn't invoke an emotion, it hasn't served it's purpose.

What type of media do you use, is it always paint?
A mixture of pencil, watercolor, ink...

What kind of paint, oils, acrylic?
Watercolor--exclusively Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors.

Do you ever sketch before you paint?
I rarely do preliminary sketching (drawing the piece several different ways and then transferring the favorite to the watercolor paper)--most often I draw the image straight on to the paper and then begin to paint.

What type of style do you think your work is considered?
I really can't answer that--I have several different styles, depending on my mood--I'm not sure how to categorize my work. I see them as my little scribbles.

To my understanding you can "whip" out a new painting in a couple of days - how can you do that?
For some reason I can paint very very fast. I also work on several pieces at one time, sort of like a production line. I paint all of the backgrounds, then all of the skin tones, clothing, etc. It saves time by not having to mix and remix paints constantly. Since I usually have so many different ideas, I can jump from piece to piece and work on whatever strikes me at the time.

Do you get a lot of 'creative blocks'?
Luckily, I don't get blocked very often. I usually have more ideas than I can handle. I keep journals of thoughts and ideas for future paintings so I can look at those when I get stuck.

Do you have an overall theme to your work or just all those little themes and titles?
I just have several different "moods" and each is a series of images--humorous, romantic gothic, cute and simple, etc.

What advice do you have for the student artist?
I would practice as much as possible and never think there isn't something new to learn or some way to improve your work.