The Pandemic hit me hard. I couldn’t breathe indoors; I craved the outdoors. The landscape tripped a switch and nature began to heal me. I yearned to paint that healing. Landscape painting obsessed me and took my art to the next level. I’m still exploring landscape while revisiting my old passions, still life and portraits.. Through this work I realized that photography and painting are not interchangeable. They are separate languages. Each painting is defined by the natural lenses of the artist: observation, experience, imagination and occasionally consulting a reference.. My handmade mark affirms humanity in this digital age of artificial intelligence.
My first painting: My parents found a post-fire Victorian house to fix up for our family of six. I was three years old. They decided to paint a mural of our family along a bathroom wall. My mother started me on my self-portrait. She said, “Paint a circle for your head”. I did. This was easy! Then she said, “Now, put in your eyes.” I started adding eyes. The phone rang and she went downstairs to answer it in the kitchen. I liked adding eyes, so I kept doing it, until the circle was filled with eyes. There was an accuracy to this distortion - nature, people and animals, fascinate me endlessly. I want to show the essence that reverberates between my subject and my heart in that moment of mutual recognition. With practice, I’ve learned to draw an accurate number of eyes. My husband, Joseph Brady, and I enjoy an active portrait business called “Beyond Caricature”.
My first and favorite of so many wonderful teachers was my father, Larry Dubitsky, who still watches over me. The Dutch Golden Age is a great inspiration, especially Rembrandt for portraits, Vermeer for stillness, Adrian Coorte for mystical still life and Carel Fabritius for mystery.
Juried Shows and Honors:
- Au Naturel: The Nude in the 21st Century, Royal Nebeker Gallery, Astoria, OR, 2026
- Plein Air and Alla Prima Exhibition, People’s Choice Award, Oregon Society of Artists, 2025
- Hipbone V2, Portland, OR, 2025
- Oregon Society of Artists, Portland, OR, 2025
- Lake Oswego Arts Festival Allstars, OR, 2025
- Oregon Society of Artists, Rose Festival Show, 2025
- Gallery 114, Small Wonders, Portland, OR, 2025
- Vancouver Festival of Art and Music, Washington, 2025 - Honorable Mention
- Edmonds Arts Festival, Edmonds WA, 2025
- SideStreet Arts, Behind Closed Doors II, Portland, OR 2025
- Gallery 114, UnderCurrents, Portland, OR, 2025
- Northwest Oil Painters Guild Member
- Arrowhead Lavender Festival, Salem, 2024
- Lake Oswego Arts Festival 2024 - Blue ribbon in Artistic Achievement
- Society of Washington Artists Spring Show, 2024
- Oil painting commission 24x36, 2023
- Works on Paper, Long Island, NY, 2023
- Beyond, Behind, Beneath…Narrative Self-Portraiture Exhibition, 2020
- 10x10x10xTieton, small works show and publication, 2019
- There’s Still Life in Still Life, North Carolina, 2019
- The Egg Show, Bay area, California, 2019
- Art Jam, Oregon State Fairground, 2019
- Art published in International Bioethics Conference program, 2018
- Visiting Artist Week, Catlin Gabel School, Portland, 2018