I worked with pastels for the first time in 1991, during some wonderful art classes I was taking in Falmouth, MA on Cape Cod. But it wasn’t until 2017, when I was taking classes at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA, that I discovered soft pastels - and sanded paper - and my love for pastels really took off. These two materials - soft pastels and sanded paper - allow me to create images that are as rich as oils, with a vibrancy and malleability unattainable with other mediums. I like to think of it as “paint-sculpting”, because once I lay down a smear of color, I can spread it with my fingertips and even blend it with other colors right on the page. I have also added the use of pastel pencils to incorporate the fine elements needed for certain pieces.

I grew up in a family steeped in the arts - my grandfather was the lauded New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno and my grandmother, Lois Long (AKA “Lipstick”), was The New Yorker’s first published columnist (“Tables for Two”) and later their fashion editor. My mother and sister are both gifted artists, and so I was always engaged in creativity as a child and growing up.

I believe life is a creative process, and I feel lucky to be participating in it in such a way.