Finding Her Way in the West: Summer

This painting represents all that’s magical about summer in the West.

Green hills, blue skies, juicy peach and orange—the colors of the season.

A champion rider, poised and graceful, this cowgirl immediately caught my eye.

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I start each piece on location. As a photographer for 40+ years, I look for that perfect moment when motion, gesture and focus come together. Back in my studio in Arizona, using techniques similar to Rauschenberg and Warhol (but always with my own imagery), I get to work. The background layer in this painting was created using Western magazines from the 50s and 60s—a reminder that in the West, the past is always present. Even when t’s hidden, I know it’s there. I work in acrylic on panel, layering up, and sanding back. The power and allure of the silhouette—of reducing the moment to its essential parts—is the way I see the world.