Early in the morning, I awaken with a flurry of thoughts floating through my mind. If, I ignore the them, I am restless. I select one or more and draw either an abstraction or literal interpretation, the visual expression brings me peace of mind. Likewise, when a client commissions a project, an intensity arises within me and I am compelled to embellish their concepts as a visual storyteller. The transformation of ideas into two-dimensional form is deeply satisfying.
Growing up, I am surrounded by art and it nows seems inevitable that I would become an artist. NYC’s museum mile are my stomping grounds. My father’s mechanical wooden drafting table, jumping jacks and dark room feature prominently in our home. The walls are decorated with 17th-19th c. ancestral portraits, a plasticine bust my father fashions of my two year old self, as well as art books, lithographs, oil and watercolor paintings. I read about the german paternal von Kalckreuth family artistic legacy, and delight in my mother’s cat drawings on my lunch bags and the cool graphic designs my father creates for Benzel Busch Mercedes, Mello Yellow soda, La Choy, Eve cigarettes among others. I am upholding the artistic tradition. I study traditional fine art with contemporary artists. My works of art are created on the iPad with an Apple pencil.
Twenty five years as a NYC interior designer, twenty years of teaching yoga and lots of travel inform my works. In my abstract works, I explore assymmetrical compositions influenced by my study of fascia and replicate traditional art techniques/styles. I have a penchant for cut-out irregular random shapes and lines filled with texture and color.
Illustration projects to date include song covers, animations, a health book, a screenplay pitch, architectural renderings, portraits and surface patterns.
I happily live at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire with my husband, two dogs and a family of finches residing under the eaves of the roof.
