Artist Statement



I think that every artist is born with a vocabulary.  Mine includes color, line, and landscape.  i grew up sewing and weaving and had three grandparents who tatted, embroidered, crocheted, and made handmade clothing and shoes.  A textile quality is present in my work.   And, I enjoy color juxtaposition and luminosity.
 

Growing up, there were no art education classes available.   I learned about color mixing in the paint department at the local hardware store. Nicolaides was one of the first instruction books i used.  My parents’ idea of a truly great artist was Norman Rockwell, and so I was weaned on  the illustrationists.  It’s interesting that without any frame of reference, i started exploring the abstract.  The first painting I ever copied was one by Clyfford Still.
 

When i paint, i don’t start from a concept or an image (although imagery creeps in).  I am not expressing my feelings.  It’s a practise in mindfulness, starting with a color and a brush stroke, following each mark as in a conversation.
  

Someone asked me once, what was my intention.  I said, to finish the painting I was working on and to start the next one.  That was not what he wanted to hear, but that’s all i have. And, in the long run, it’s always about and in, the doing.