I was raised in Rhode Island, where my French Canadian ancestors immigrated to work in the textile mills during the industrial revolution. They worked long hard hours, often at young ages, towards the dream that someday their children and grandchildren might prosper. It is with the utmost gratitude and respect that I dedicate my work to them.

Through my family and training, I have found a personal intimacy with the use of fabrics and paper. Although I consider myself a painter more than a seamstress or a quilter, I begin all the paintings with fabric and paper collage arranged, sewn and adhered to wood panels with almost a quilt-like appearance. They consist of antique cloth (burlap and cotton bags, linen towels and tablecloths), contemporary fabrics (cottons, velvets and polyesters) and a variety of papers and 2D found objects. From this point, my work splits into two series.

The series of abstracts are collages of materials transformed and embellished using fiber, tints and glazes. Through the design, colors and composition, my intention is to convey the poetry of painting with the use of fiber in a feminine and tactile tone.

The paintings are renderings of faces and figures in which I use acrylics and charcoal to capture emotions, moods and ideas. My intention is to create a visual record of personal experiences in a more literal fashion than the abstracts. The collaged and embellished surface adds a visual static and dimension to the composition. The joy in this process is from the instinctual choices of rendering and harmonizing what I will cover up and what I will leave to be revealed.

I am grateful to have two studios, one at McRae Art Studios in Winter Park and one where I live in Mount Dora. I am even more grateful to live there with my husband Jim Fernandes and our sons Nathaniel and Nicholas.