My ancestors are from a cluster of towns in the interior of central Portugal (between Coimbra and Castelo Branco), but I am actually a native of Lisbon ("alfacinha"). I only discovered my artistic gift late in life. Before that I lived and worked in Portugal, in Germany and in Canada. Soon after our move to Canada my husband and I started a business and worked arduously to grow our single supermarket location until "retiring" to sunny Portugal. This change finally gave me the time and opportunity to do something different ...and it was soon after my return to Portugal that I dove into exploring this new-found attraction for the arts.
As was the case with many girls of my generation I was indoctrinated early on to the traditional crafts of quilting and creating delicate lace projects, but in my adult years I preferred to spend the rare free moments I had reading classical novels and romances. Still, this was a far cry from the art of painting!
To the chagrin of my family (because they loved and love to see the works I created), my passion for paitning waned with the onset of my husband's illness and lasted for 21 continuous years. But, interestingly, the "artist" in me didn't completely disappear ...I have returned to my craft roots, albeit different crafts from those I learned as a girl. My latest pastime is creating jewellery and my family tells me the artist still lives within me, in that (they say) I have an eye for colors, patterns and designs!
When the desire to learn to paint suddenly arose I understood that I needed to learn from a professional. I sought out a teacher in the cultural hub that is Cascais (a stretch of ocean coast outside of Lisbon) and, along with other aspiring painters, was tutored and coached in oils, watercolours and even in decorating tiles, ceramic, glass and textiles. The learning curve through the tutoring started to plateau after a year and a half and I naturally transitioned to the self-taught and experimentation process.
I quickly understood that my ability was to create with colour and detail (Naïf style of painting) and that drawing was not my gift. I, consequently, always began with a line tracing based on a photograph or clipping and adapted and created my sceneries from that starting point.
I have been blessed with the opportunity to create many pieces, and although painting traditional Portuguese ceramic tiles is very challenging, my most intricate works are some of my oils on canvas. I wish I could show you each of them - and I will add to my gallery as I am able to phtograph more of my pieces - but many I will never be able to share here because I have sold some of them during my various expositions in Portugal and I have happily gifted others to family and friends.
I believe that art is of value only when it is shared and has the opporunity of evoking a happy emotion in the viewer. For this reason I am grateful to be able to share what I can of my piecees with you - thank you!