The Laguna Beach Art Museum holds a fundraiser every year called ‘Palette to Palate’ that features a 5-course meal served by the chef of the Montage Resort in the Main Gallery of the museum. Ten invited artists each create a space to enjoy this memorable dining experience. It can be anything you dream up- as long as it will enhance, not hinder, your guests’ dining experience. This year I was invited to create a space; it has been a fun, exciting, and very educational endeavor for me.

Where to start? The installation includes work by each artist so it seemed obvious to begin with the paintings! I have continued my abstract landscape series with a ‘macro’ view as inspired by the organic shapes in my garden this spring. I enjoy distilling things down to their basic forms and using color to juxtapose areas of contrast against areas of harmony.

So much in life is editing; carving out beauty amid the chaos. The ‘Pacific Rim Landscape’ series imposes order on a chaotic surface the same way our exterior personalities impose order on our often turbulent or conflicted feelings. I am particularly interested in the space between the two (the edge) and am thrilled that the visual language in these pieces reflects this ideal with an exciting symbiotic energy.