An artist that considers her birth place in North New Mexico to be one of the deepest influences in her creativity, Simone approaches her art with a deep connection to the earth around her and the sacredness of the natural world. Her work as midwife is another impactful source of inspiration in her work as much of her pieces are inspired by that of the feminine, fertility and body awareness. She is a painter first and foremost but also dabbles in other mediums such as metal and clay. As of recent years, she has extended her love for design into the digital realm so that her art can be applied to a broader array of applications and can bring art into more areas of life.

Some Questions Answered From the Artist

What kind of satisfaction do you get from creating your art?

I create art for myself and out of a yearning to share some of the most vulnerable parts of myself with those viewing it in hopes that it might inspire the same in someone else and with the intention of creating more genuine human connection.

I decide to paint when my heart tells me to. It is something that can’t be forced. When I sit down, open up my paint set, fill a mug with water and open up to a white page, I get immediately entranced. Creating truly is something that allows me to enter my “flow”. To me, my painting is one of the ways I meditate. I dance with the pigments, using more or less water to lighten or darken their tones and to eventually bring everything on the page full circle into something that feels inquisitive, beautiful and that is ultimately an expression of the way in which I am experiencing the world. To me, making art is most important in the nurturing of my spirit and if anything, I need no other reason to paint, but more and more I see and believe that it is in practicing and encouraging our avenues of self expression that we encourage the exchange of our humanity with one another. That feels powerful. In sharing my art, I feel I am peacefully sharing my ideas, expressing my concerns, loves, fears, and passions and in all of that, hopefully opening up space for conversations to ignite. In this way, often I see my art as a form of activism.

What made you choose the genre you are in?

One can only have so much control over watercolor, like any medium but it is in its unpredictability that I have come to love it! One can not erase or paint over watercolor but one can learn to dance with its tendencies. It is the water that allows one to have access to an indefinite range of tones and vales in every pigment. The more water one adds, the lighter the color becomes and vice-versa, opening up a whole world of possibility.

What is the hardest part about creating a work of art?

Every piece I begin is completely unpredictable. I sometimes begin a piece believing I know exactly how it will manifest but three counters of the way thru decide that it is not to be completed in that way anymore. Other times, I will start and finish a piece in a single attempt and other times, I will get stumped and let an unfinished piece sit in my bedroom until the path of its completion grabs me again. I think it is the unpredictability of creating a work that can be the hardest and most gratifying part as it also reminds me of a quality of all other aspects of life, its unpredictability. It is when I am able to detach from the control that I think I have over a piece that I am able to complete it.