Artist Statement
I am pleased to be where I am in my painting journey because I feel like I have come to a place of relative peace and acceptance in regard to my goals and my ability. My goals are idealistic and classically oriented: to achieve a sense of balance, presence, and a sense of beauty in an intimate space using line color and form. I first tried achieving my goals by making still life paintings, but eventually they felt restrictive, so I started making somewhat larger abstract paintings that were mainly about form. Some were landscapes and others more purely abstract. Then I tired of those and started doing smaller more focused abstract paintings. I also started doing some abstracted still life painting, all the while not feeling absorbed enough or pleased enough with the result. Meanwhile, I started experimenting with painting abstractly with watercolor. I have always loved the intimacy of that medium. Recently, after years of flailing around, with some periods of short-lived satisfaction, I realized that I hadn’t trusted myself deeply enough to go deep, beyond ego and the need for approval. I am working on that at present and finding much more joy in the endeavor, both of discovery and of letting go. There can’t be one without the other.