It was Friday afternoons while my kids were taking swim lessons that I started the sketchbooks. I was at my happiest during those times because I knew my children were having a good time. I was a graphic designer specializing in packaging by profession and started a fascination with flowers while on a photoshoot in Boston. I was trying to add something to the set design when the photographers suggested I go across to the flower market and buy some flowers for the shoot. That was it, I’ve never been so overwhelmed with beauty my whole life! I was hooked. Since then I have been on an endless pursuit to document unusual floral specimens - for years I have been photographing, painting, and drawing flowers. After a while with those sketchbooks, while my children were at swimming and other activities, designs just came to me, they were related to flowers but not so literal. I discovered surface design while taking courses at Rhode Island School of Design - I love the decorative aspect of creating patterns for products and textiles. My teacher suggested I sell my work as art and so Verde Cosi was born. Over the course of two years, I kept coming back to interpretive drawings for ranunculus. The initial design did not have birds in it. I decided to add birds and found that they are as interesting and diverse as flowers and plants. “Crane and Ranunculus” was introduced at my first juried show back in March of 2013. This collection revolved around my studies of the ranunculus flower. One of the most difficult flowers to draw. I came up with my own interpretational drawing of the flower which I could not stop looking at. I knew at that moment that I needed to do something with that image. Drawing is very important in many of my fabrics and if you look closely you can see the texture of the line. That is why I like to do juried shows - it allows customers to see my work in person - all of the texture of the art on fabric and the texture of the fabric itself! FUN, FUN, FUN!!!
