Q: How did you begin your career?
A: I had no formal training as a fine
artist. I studied landscape architec-
ture at École Nationale Supérieure
de Paysage, so I was taught how
to draw with precision and work
with three-dimensional space.
I also had a background in botany
and geology.
I turned to painting once I had a
family. I was self-employed and had
to make use of the little free time
available to me. I began in water-
color and mixed media, and worked
in those media for 20 years. I didn’t
publicize myself much, but I sold my
work in Paris and its environs, and
there were people who bought mypaintings on a regular basis, which
appealed to me.Q: Your subject matter is often the
sea and the interface between water,
sky and land. How did that become a
favored subject?
A: The sea has always been important
to me, even when very young. I asked
my then-husband that we move close
to the sea, at least while the children
were small, to a healthier environ-
ment somewhere more pleasant than
the sidewalks of Paris. We moved to
Saint Malo, which has an extraor-
dinary port, and I started painting
watercolors featuring boats, hulls
and water reflections.LEFT
Autumn Song
(pastel on clay
board, 25½x19½)
BELOW
Green Mirror
(pastel on card,
19½x25½)Q: When did you begin working
in pastel?
A: I did a lot of watercolor brand
demonstrations when we lived in
Saint Malo. One day, I had to give
a demonstration but discovered
that I’d left my watercolors at home.
Luckily, I knew people attending the
demo who were in the art supply busi-
ness, and although they couldn’t give
me a new watercolor set, they had
an opened box of pastels that I was
able to use. I ended up demonstrating52 Pastel Journal AUGUST 2019