I guess I have not felt like writing much lately. I have been doing quite a bit though, which I like, but I did make a commitment to this journal, and want to keep the energy flowing here.

Last friday, I was in an art opening at Perry Nicole. It was a group exhibit including most of the artists that are represented there. I almost didn’t make it into the show, due to some miscommunication, but after a bit of internal drama, and organizing, I was able to put a big piece into the show.

This image of the picture is not that great, as you can not see the layers, or the line well. I wish I had a better one, but I don’t right now, and so this one will have to do.

I was happy with the way the piece turned out though, and I got a lot of encouraging feedback. I would love to see the work go to a new home where it is seen and loved.

Now speaking of painting, I want to go do that now, but I have embarked on a project that is using my painting time. For about a month now, I have been working on house stuff (my house is my personal painting/sculpture). I’m dealing with my ceilings. They were attacked by that AWFUL popcorn stuff, that someone without sense, invented. The last owners of the house were profligate in their use of this ugly material, creating quite an eyesore for me, I had gotten to a point where I could not stand looking at the ceilings that way any more. So after a lot of thought (about 3 years) I opted to cover them with layers and layers of tissue paper.

Why not scrape the popcorn off you ask, HA. I would perhaps have done that long ago, had the ceilings not been KILZED. The popcorn was glued on after that. Only a new ceiling or something creative could have been done in this case.

My idea is working, and I know it will look cool when it is finished, but this project is taking much longer than I anticipated. I was starting to get very grouchy not being in my studio, so I brought some paintings inside the house so that I would be able to look at them and work on them while I work on the never ending tissue paper solution.

I need a massage from all the overhead painting, but I won’t stop til I am finished.

When I draw I am able to see how things are. Drawing directly from observation becomes a language to express what is visable in all of its complexity, there is no denying what is in front of me, I analyze and execute. Yet, when I go inside and draw from what is unseen, the drawing becomes more of a medetation, my conciousness deepens and I can see how connected things are.

When I paint I tend to be a bit more expressive, responding to what I see, feel and think. I express emotions through the colors and many applications of paint then try to work through the many layers that have been created, sometimes feeling utter confusion, and frustration, but I always manage to find my way through the muddle, and gain insight and clarity. It’s a never ending and ever changing exploration.

For me its necessary to pay attention and weave through both fields of my mind, the anaylical and intuitive, and honor both. My work is to thread my visual expressions together, share them through an open heart, intelligence and wisdom, and to hopefully grow in the the process.

Reinvention of both the seen and remembered is integral to my work. The resuslt is a layering of visual expressions. The depth that is created by these layers is important because I have always been interested in what lies beneath the surface.

To create this depth, I push and pull materials, erase, and overlay surfaces by painting over what I have drawn, redrawing, and repainting, which often creates surprising visual relationships, and sometimes ambeguity.

I don’t always know what I’m working with, what I’m exposing, therefore I use drawing and mark making for clarity and definition, sometimes more than others.

Because of the inherent mystery in the work, I limit myself to rich earth and jewel tones. These help to reveal the marks and surfaces.

I am deeply inspired by the organic. I return over and over to the body, skin, muscles, bones, viscera, cells. I am equally drawn to the forms of the natural world, particularly the branches and roots in trees, for their stability and strenth in line, and also water with its fluidity and power in movement.

The sensuality of the natural is always a surprise and delight to me- The never ending pleasure of looking and going deeper.