I paint in a greenhouse beside an 18th century family farmhouse, at Old Hook Farm, the home of the third and fourth generations of the Marek family. After a day of painting, there are beautiful heirloom vegetables and fruits to take home to paint and for cooking. I have painted this farm‘s flowers, fields, crops and historic buildings over a decade, in series of art works. Even In winter, the greenhouse is filled with flowering lemon and jade trees, orchids and succulents. The farm is near the Hudson River where the quality of light is soft, and at times luminescent.

As a child, I spent summers by the sea on Fire Island and in the mountains of Pennsylvania. I was free to roam and explore on my own and developed an intrinsic love of the sea and Eastern woodlands. In my twenties I lived in the Southwest and painted the incredible vistas of sky with dusty pink-colored mountains and silver rivers running through the landscape. I accompanied my husband, an archaeologist, as we lived in Southern Colorado, and traveled through New Mexico and Arizona visiting ancient sites. The light and colors of the sky and earth were brilliant and required color palettes very different than those used for the gardens, waters, and countryside of the Northeast.

Currently I am painting two series. One of landscapes in four seasons with roots underground appearing as an intricate woven tapestry. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall flow into each other connecting seasonal skies and vegetation. The other is a series of people and orchids. Upon attending the annual orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden, it appeared as though visitors to the garden were enthralled with being in the Enid Haupt Conservatory amid the orchids, lush ferns and many other beautiful plants. Nature and the delicate balance of human interface with the environment are threaded throughout my art.

I make my living painting, teaching and writing about art. I am a third generation artist from a family of artists. My mother, artist Peregrine Higgins, took me to museums, gallery openings and artist’s studios. One of my earliest memories is sitting in front of a large painting by Monet of water lilies at the Museum of Modern Art and getting lost in the color and light.

I teach at a private art school, the Art School at Old Church, Demarest, New Jersey and have been writing downloadable books in the form of PDFs since 2004. When the Art School Portfolio Handbook was released, the kindle and iPad were available and my writing became much more accessible as ebooks. I was encouraged by some of my friends and students to write a book for a wider audience.

I teach oil, water based oil and acrylic painting on canvas. I share freely what I have learned encouraging beginners as well as experienced artists to discover the joys and satisfactions of the daily practice of art.