About
About The Artist
It started with a nagging voice in my mind in March 2024. “Paint”. I questioned why I was suddenly and repeatedly hearing this word. Paint? Judging from my experience with a college art class, I assumed I couldn’t paint. My talent from childhood was writing. Yet the voice continued to urge me to paint. I tried to ignore it, but it evolved from a whisper to a shout.
Yes, my mom drew and painted in oils, but she favored roses and chalk pencil drawings of family members. Had she given me a secret gift? Was she the voice?
By the end of March, I obeyed the voice and ordered art supplies. I chose acrylics because it was a good starting point for beginners. When everything arrived, I stared at my collection for several days before picking up a brush and applying tentative abstract strokes in bold blue and yellow to a small canvas panel.
The result stunned me. (Insert image of painting) I showed the painting to a friend, and she loved the colors.
So, was I onto something? Had I discovered a long-slumbering talent for abstract painting?
And the rest, as they say, was history.
A year later, canvases surround me like a garden grown from magic mushrooms. Colors and textures fill the rooms, and the joy I feel seeing my creations is unlike any other experience. Art is a vision borne from the heart and soul. It’s an expression that belies explanation. It just is.
The simplest way to explain my process is that there is no process. Ideas come to me like phantom paper airplanes drifting into my mind. Many of my paintings started in one direction and ended up completely different from my initial vision. Others were mistakes – and there were many – which produced even better results than expected. Ultimately, painting is a learning curve. Each stroke is a lesson, a creative journey fueled by imagination. Passion fuels my paintbrush, which I like to call “automatic painting.”
I approach the exploration of art the way a child would on Christmas: with fun, excitement, and anticipation. Art has taught me to view the world from a completely different perspective. Anything is game for my canvases, be it a fabric remnant, a colorful broach or rhinestone, an interesting tool, or a new type of medium.
Inspiration awaits everywhere. Art stores, museums, gardens, jet contrails, cloud patterns, and even graffiti seen from a freeway reveal potential for future canvases. A random paint spill reveals an intriguing pattern. Ripples on water create visions. The colors of a vivid sunset spark a new color palette.
I thank the voice and mom for this wonderful gift.