Sunflowers Series
My most recent artist's statement regarding my Sunflowers work:
I am a painter who is forever on a journey in both life and work. I paint layers of acrylics combining mark making and personal imagery on the pages of visual journals (bound by me.) I paint to connect with myself as well as the world around me.
When I paint, I tend to think of myself as both explorer as well as amateur art historian. I love to experiment, explore and play with acrylic paint. With each new painting, I try to create something different than what I have done before. Whether it be new images, color, texture, line or composition, I am always interested in trying something new, learning and journeying forward in my work. Each new picture adds to my toolbox. This toolbox not only benefits me but also inspires those I share my work with (my students with whom I share my process, ideas, experiences, failures, successes and techniques.)
My most current body of work, Sunflowers, reflects a journey I took in 2019, a trip that changed my work and gave me memories that have nestled deep within my bones. In June of 2019, I taught a week long workshop in France. While there, I walked in the footsteps of my art mentors (specifically Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and Joan Mitchell.) I have been trying to translate my experiences and memories of that journey into paint. If I close my eyes, I can walk through Auvers sur Oise, Paris and Arles. I am trying to capture those dreamlike summer memories in my recent paintings.
Humans are forever on a journey of some kind. We transition, learn and grow. I have worked primarily in paint and collage for twenty-four years. My time in France changed me deeply as well as dramatically changed how I work. I have (temporarily) set aside my collage work to focus on working purely in acrylic. My journey in 2019 brought me the discovery that I am a painter. I cannot say if I am a good painter or a bad one as I think that every painter keeps working in order to try to improve. We are never “good enough” as there is always something to see and expand upon. To me, that is the most exciting part of the process, being forever on a journey in paint.
Where’s my brush? It’s time to get back to painting. This essay is hopefully enough for you to understand that to me, art is not about the finished product but, the journey, the process we undergo as creative beings. Viva la painting!
Supplies used:
Journal I made using100 lb Accent Opaque card stock size 9 3/4 x 16" opened
Working size (single page) 9 3/4 x 8"
Acrylics: Holbein, Sennelier, Utrecht and Golden (heavy body)
Painting knives
Brushes
Princeton Catalyst Tools
Looked at:
Joan Mitchell
Vincent Van Gogh
Arshile Gorky
Richard Diebenkorn
Joan Eardley
Henri Matisse
Reading:
Various Joan Mitchell books and catalogs
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
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