"If there were a special camera or glasses we put on to see people and things not just by their physical attributes but also see their experiences, their troubles, their sicknesses, their connectedness or lack of to everything else around them I think it would look very similar to one of my paintings. I don’t draw what a person looks like I draw a map of those experiences, feelings and energy and the relationship between their physical, emotional and energetic environments."
Artist Statement and Process:
Art was my outlet for everything as a child- an essential emotional release. If I had a problem I would doodle. If I had an issue at the moment that I couldn’t deal with I would doodle. Doodling was my emotional outlet. This process has followed me from childhood into my adult life. My art is neither intentional nor is it understood by me when it is completed. It may take years before I truly understand a particular piece and the symbols that I used in it’s creation. I trust my intuition to guide me. First and fore most I create art for myself but I have quickly realized the emotional response it invokes with my viewers as well and now live for those moments. For me, this is the excitement that liberates me, ultimately creating something that not only I but also the viewer (for their own reasons) can respond to emotionally.
Explanation of Process and Paintings
As a Visionary artist, I use my inner emotion and intuition to guide me. I do not work in the traditional process that incorporates sketching and planning. After that first line, shape, or color makes it way to the canvas I get lost in non-thought. It is my time to meditate- and when my time with the canvas is complete I have a creation that in some way represents my dreams and life experience. This may not be understood for quite some time but from experience I now trust in my process and can dissect it when I am ready.
My painting process is very expedient I quickly make a decision as to what colors I am going to use. Ultimately when I paint I am preparing the canvas for my drawing. When I feel like there are enough options to work with, I am done painting. At times the painting can take as little as 10 minutes to complete. After the canvas is prepared I study it in the four directions deciding which direction it will go. I would say that this is when I am most attentive in my creative process and snap out of dream world to make a decision- which way is up? Sometimes I see it in multiple directions and this has lead to the “Flipped” series. Once the direction has been determined I then bring the piece to life with my ink drawing. The shapes formed by the paints dictate what I draw as do the negative spaces. I often see faces throughout the piece –but this “seeing” is not limited to art it includes my everyday seeing as well.
My hope is that my work will be a tool of this special kind of seeing for people. Not taking an object simply at face value. Everything we see is more interesting and complicated than the title we attach to it. You can look at a tree OR you can SEE the tree in it’s individuality. Trees are very much like people in the way that there environment and experiences with it make up the tree. A harsh winter, a bird pecking at the surface or an animal digging a hole inside to live in, a kid climbing it all of the experiences it has had has changed that tree just like what we have gone thru in our lives has altered and changed us and not just physically but emotionally and energetically as well.
My wood art is done in the same process with the exception of having to prepare it for drawing. I find so much pleasure playing with the images of what nature has organically grown. What wood grain has naturally is what I strive to achieve when preparing my canvas for drawing. All that is needed is a light acrylic wash and I simply outline the faces and images nature provided for me.
My work typically has two different levels. From a distance, the viewer can see a large image or faces, landscapes, buildings etc. – but on closer examination the viewer sees that each image is typically derived from smaller images- eyes, faces, windows, doors, trees, houses, mountains and spirit people growing or living within the other images. I often create one abstract surreal world inside another. The piece becomes multi-dimensional and can be seen in different ways depending on how you look at it.
My ultimate goal in the process of creating my work is to not think about what I am doing -not consciously anyway. I feel at home drawing in everyday settings -be it in the car, on a plane, listening to a film or at a party. I love to be around people and carry on a conversation and draw simultaneously. This works best when the people I am engaged with are not distracted by my drawing for this will cause me to “think about what I am doing”. I have found my best work comes from being in a room full of people that know me and know that this is what I do and how I work. From the words of Visionary master Alex Grey “To produce their finest works, artists lose themselves in the flow of creation from their inner worlds. The visionary artist creatively expresses her or his personal glimpses of the Divine Imagination”.
Artist Description of Work:
“I grew up in NY and lived in the city for years and as I looked out the window I would see just mass chaos just looked like a mess of people, cars, buildings etc. but when I zoomed in on one area I saw each space was it’s own little world with it’s own energy, emotions, and life. This is the best was to describe one of my paintings. From a distance look at the confusing mass of abstraction but step into the painting and move your eyes around stopping every few inches and you will see worlds inside of worlds each with there own uniqueness.
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