I paint as a way to express my vision of the world. I’m inspired by looking at all the amazing things around me: people, crumbling walls, wild animals. Exciting experiences of travel and cultural engagement in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia have increased my desire to expand the feeling of openness and space in my work.

I create my abstract paintings as much from my imagination and dreams as from images in the real world. When I paint, I become an explorer of the inner world, experimenting, taking risks, making discoveries and mistakes, moving forward intuitively. I focus on the lines, shapes and colors that evolve and these become the map I follow and the language I use to express complex feelings.

Using acrylic, hand painted collage papers, my dream journals, fabric and other found materials, I improvise on canvas or wood panel. Applying layers of paint and collage, I can create luminous colors, pattern and texture. On wood panels, I sand, scrape and scratch, revealing underlying layers and marks. As I smear, drip and paint with brushes, fingers and other tools, new ideas come. I work on many paintings at once, putting each aside until it seems unfamiliar and fresh. Although I don’t begin with a plan or destination in mind, I stop when I have reached a place of mystery and surprise. I hope this journey speaks to others as well.

As a psychotherapist, I learned to yield to the unknown. I listened for what was unspoken and sometimes unconscious. In painting, I leave a history of the marks that appear and are covered over, thinking of them as traces of our internal conversations, silent and universal.