I grew up in a shoreline community in Connecticut in a home on the waterfront. This proximity to Long Island Sound created my love of nature and the natural world. I was influenced by the art career of my father Donald Thompson who became a very prominent and influential artist who was continually producing beautiful watercolors of the water, the marshes and New England scenes of the area. His love of art was communicated early on to me. When I went away to study art at the Rhode Island School of Design I was thrown into an urban culture very different than my own small town. I found it stimulating and invigorating and urban environment set my artwork on a different trajectory than the traditional New England scenes that my father painted.

A further influence on my art was the social upheavals of the 60’s and 70’s.

I participated in the civil rights struggles in Baltimore Maryland while attending the Maryland Institute of Art in that city. After moving back to New England, I became a part of the peace movement against the war in Vietnam Thus, developed my concern with social justice themes which began to be reflected in my work.

My travels abroad to different countries and my interest in social justice and culture led me to pursue a Master’s Degree in Sociology and Anthropology. For a time, I taught Sociology and Women’s Studies at Southern Connecticut State University and developed a strong concern with representations of women and their issues and the commercial destruction of the environment and planet.

After years of working in traditional artist materials I became influenced by and a part of the Digital Revolution in Art. I took to the new medium long before other artists became aware of its advantages and I have become somewhat of a trendsetter in its acceptance and appreciation. The photographs I take serve as a launching point for artistic interpretation rather than an end in themselves. I was a pioneer in this regard, exploring the digital potential for producing fine artwork before it became as popular as it is today. I combine photos, collages, monotypes and my own artwork in the computer. My work has evolved so it is no longer restricted to either the world of painting or of photography ever since I joyously discovered I could paint with photographs.

It has become my main method of expression in art although by no means the only medium that I use. After developing my own personal method of digital expression, I have continued to study with various artists and photographers and have taken numerous classes in schools always exploring new materials and new avenues of making art. It has led me to recognition in many local and statewide art associations as an elected artist member, acceptance into numerous juried art shows and a recipient of numerous honors and awards. Many of my prints, but not all, are transformed into what is called mixed media when I enhance the print with traditional additional art techniques such as pastel, ink or paint. They then become one of a kind which again enhances their value in the art world. And of course, I still love to paint and draw with fine art materials in the traditional manner.

The Digital Revolution in Art

There’s no question that applications like Photoshop have changed the art world forever. Master digital artists use these tools to create masterpieces that stretch the limits of the imagination There are many innovations going on in the art world today due to the digital revolution. Artists have a new generation of powerful digital tools that have opened up new vistas of possibilities. Digital prints that are both photographs or fine art creations are now in the collections of prestigious museums, art galleries and private collectors throughout the world. More professional photographers than ever are crossing the boundary between creating pure photographic prints and making fine art images. Throughout history artists have used and experimented with the latest tools, technology and media. They often met with resistance and skepticism from an art world and public that resists change. Much of the art media we accept today such as canvas, photography and acrylic paint were met with skepticism when they were first introduced. But Fine Art is about content, not about the medium. One can make a fine watercolor or a shallow or poor one. It is the same with digital prints. The beauty of digital art is that it is an eloquent tool for creating images on almost any substrate from silk to Tyvek.

An artwork created with the use of digital media and which has the physical form of being a reproducible Digital print is what is termed a “multiple original”, that is there is no other original artwork than what is expressed in the digital creation. The term multiple original” is used in the art world to describe other reproducible fine art prints such as wood cuts, engravings and etching, screen prints and lithographs. In these examples there is an original matrix or plate that the print is based on that is not the actual work. In the case of digital paintings or prints the digital file is equivalent to the plate. The print is the artwork. That is why all of my digital prints are in limited editions, signed by me and printed on archival papers with archival inks all of which adds to their value. This is in contrast to a giclee print of an original work of art in other media.