"Cielo Sereno" Painting

I was born and lived in New Orleans for a long time. Since leaving Louisiana, I have lived in Seattle and Los Angeles. My home is now Palm Desert. My art life has been a combination of teaching and painting. I graduated from Loyola University, New Orleans, with a Bachelor of Arts. I received my Master of Fine Arts from the University of New Orleans. I also studied art history in Florence, Italy. As a professor of art history, design, and color theory, my career developed from part-time to fulltime teaching and culminated as the academic director of liberal arts at the Art Institute of Seattle and the Art Institute of Hollywood. I developed an interest in needlepoint as an alternative to painting when I was teaching full-time and because my workdays were so long. “Painting with thread” was a way to balance my work and my studio practice. I then realized the handwork was an important part of my Italian and French heritage. Hand embroidered tablecloths, doilies and lace curtains were part of my childhood. My technique has developed throughout the years, and I have gone from just using paint to incorporating many other materials into my work. Various textiles such as lace, faux crocodile, velvet, cording, doilies, and thread are now integral to my paintings and sculpture. Needlework and now the mixing of my own colors are an obsession for me and are both essential in my latest body of work . I had my most recent solo exhibition, Remnants: in black and white in 2021 at Gallery 825, Los Angeles. I have held painting fellowships from The Bau Institute in Italy, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in Virginia, the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, and a Kipapai Fellowship in California. Some of my awards include the Artistic Selection Award from the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, second place in the 34th and 35th Annual All Media Exhibitions at the Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA, and a Jurors Award from the Artist Council Exhibition, Palm Desert, CA. I was recently chosen to be a featured artist in Artsy Shark. My work is in several private and corporate collections, including Swedish Hospital in Seattle, WA, and Iberia Bank in New Orleans, Metairie, and Shreveport, LA. More information is on my website: