My everyday experiences, which are a continuing source of visual and emotional stimulation, inspire my paintings. The mind-expanding experience of traveling to China and Africa in the past few years has led me to open up the corresponding pictorial space in my work, leading to a brighter palette and airier compositions.
I create my abstract paintings as much from images in the world as from my imagination and dreams; the process of painting is a journey inward into wordless and symbolic space, exploring an internal landscape. I layer marks, color and texture, following the intriguing shapes and images that materialize until they lead to unexpected and surprising destinations. This process can be effortless and thrilling as the painting seems to create itself, but sometimes can be painstaking as I work to discover just the right shapes, textures and colors to express my intent. Using charcoal, acrylic, hand-painted collage papers, fabric, found papers and newsprint, I compose and then paint directly on the canvas without planning. As I apply the materials, they inspire new ideas, each step suggesting another. I work on many paintings at once, putting each aside until it seems unfamiliar and new again.
Working in this way, I can create rich, luminous colors, pattern and texture. In my work as a psychotherapist, I listen for what is unspoken and sometimes unconscious. In painting, I think of the lines and marks that appear and disappear as the thoughts and impulses living within me and all of us, unspoken but articulate. |
