I have a deep desire to paint, and create, that I carry with me all the time. I love the way the paint feels as it's coming off the brush onto the canvas. I love the way colors react to one another as they meet and overlap. I love the other world I live in while I am deep into creation. Magic happens when you let go and allow creation to happen through you, and I love that feeling. I can get lost in it for hours that seem fly by. Creating is my passion.
Impressionism, Symbolism and Art Nouveau have heavily influenced my work. I admire the work of artists such as Monet, Manet, Klimt, Renoir, Degas and Chagall. My paintings are an expression of who I am and how I see the world. I have ideas and images jump into my mind & thoughts and feelings that all find their escape onto the canvas. My goal is to let all of this flow out of me uninhibited, to stay in the moment, and get lost in the process of creating the work.
The circle is representative of life itself – “The Circle of Life”. Life is God, a perfect circle with no beginning, no ending. I believe that Life/God is energy, energy takes many forms, and it can appear as color, form, movement, vibration or sound. I have been attempting to paint this energy or aspects of energy, life, God.
I begin a piece by choosing colors. On days when I am feeling light and happy my colors tend to also be light and happy. However, on days when I am feeling the weight of the world or trying to escape from the chaos of everyday life, my colors seem to be a bit heavier and darker. Therefore the overall end result of any painting is simply a reflection of the state of my being at the time of it's creation.
Sometimes I begin with a solid idea or thought, and sometime I purposefully try to clear my mind of any previous ideas or thoughts, letting my brush tell the story as it plays over the canvas. As I work I begin to relax and sink into the creative process, opening myself up to the guidance and direction of the energy and the process of painting, and allow god to direct the outcome.
I have begun to include my thoughts in written form, into many of my paintings. Using a mixed media approach, I begin with an under painting of acrylic. I write and draw directly onto this layer, or onto a layer of tissue using a variety of tools, which I adhere to the painting surface. Then I finish with another layer of acrylic paints. I feel as though this allows me to connect more immediately and more deeply to the viewer.
I am currently in preparation for an exhibit that will occur later this year at the Flint Institute of Art. These works are an attempt to merge the real with the unreal. What may at first glance look like a Landscape at closer inspection reveals an abstraction. I love abstract art but also work in a contempory relism style as well.
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