About

artist statement

Painting watercolors is definitely a team sport. I start in a direction and then the watercolors or acrylics take it from there. Colors run and mix across a field of gessoed watercolor papers until we shake hands and cry “victory!” – or, at least, end the game.

So, what subjects send me pellmell into the fray? Sparkling lakes, majestic herons, stately bridges, treasured landmarks, lively wrens, docile cats – all sorts of images from the natural and constructed worlds make me take up my brush and wake up the paints.

Friends and neighbors often offer inspiration, too. I create commissioned watercolor portraits of favorite houses, or vacation cottages or beloved childhood homes delighting in the architectural detail that endears the home to its owner as well.

My two-dimensional work and greeting cards are represented by the West End Gallery in Corning, NY. www.westendgallery.net A catalog of slumped glass/copper jewelry and sculpture created in collaboration with my husband, Noel Sylvester, can be found at www.beulahlandrevival.com.

Interested in visiting Corning? Well, I have listed my home in Corning on AirBNB. I would love to have you stay!

artist bio

In colorful crayon, with three-tiered earrings on my mom and red hair and green eyes carefully drawn on my dad, my art career was off and running at the age of five.

OK – so I took time out to go to college in Iowa and Wisconsin to obtain my degree in planning which was the passport to my career in community / watershed planning. But I always kept drawing and painting, painting and drawing.

Over my lifetime, the view out my window changed from open fields in Amish country in northern Ohio, to the muck flats of central New York, to the sandy plains of Michigan's “thumb,” to the flat-top hilltops of the southern tier. All have provided inspiration.

My latest landing place is a country home in Risingville, New York. A rambly place on 40 acres of grown up hillsides, brush-hogged meadows, a reclaimed gravel-mined pond and springfed creek. My photographer/sculptor/welder husband Noel Sylvester and I share the space with two old dogs.

But it is not all peace and quiet. April brings the Steuben County Arts in Bloom Art Trail when we open Beulahland, as we like to call our place, to visitors to see our work and the work of nearby artist friends. I usually have my greeting cards, slumped glass jewelry and small paintings on hand. I'll be trying my hand at printmaking, too. Folks are also invited to request commissions (I have painted more than a hundred homes as house portraits over the years).

The summer sees the place explode into The Hours Festivals. A joint inspiration with my daughters Amelia Harnas and Adriana Kramer in 2011, the Hours of Art began with the celebration of my 60th birthday – five days @ twelve hours each of creative collaboration with other artists. 68 Hours of Art will be celebrated this summer. www.hoursfestivals.com.

My home away from home is the West End Gallery in Corning, New York where I have been exhibiting my watercolor / acrylics since I came to the Corning area in very late 1979. I have been honored to be featured in several Spotlight shows and I do my best to keep a fresh supply of paintings on hand. w ww.westendgallery.net.

Upcoming ventures may include more spiritual exploration, gutsier 3-D work and journaling art. Meantime, I will see what new surprises hide in my paint box.

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about the artist

artist statement

artist bio

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