Brilliant Flowing Glass Circles Painting

Compulsion and yearning; the simple, yet, undeniable need to create; to have my hands gripping a pencil or paintbrush and moving over the fresh surface of paper and canvas. Feeling the flow and pleasure of mark making and the satisfying release of repetition in meditative motion. I draw and paint, because I must. Because the colors and textures beckon me like a siren’s call entices a sailor. Once in motion, my hands and eyes take over, and my conscious mind retreats, allowing my subconscious complete control like autopilot with only the ingrained elements of beauty and color to guide me. I swear sometimes I don’t even remember painting, almost like the painting just happened. It flows through me like a current through a conduit receiving and delivering a message. It has always been this way. From those early innocent creations of childhood, through my senior exit show in Drawing and Painting at the University of Georgia, to stolen moments of sanctuary in my studio away from my children. Inspiration comes from life experiences, art history, other artists, nature, and pop-culture; boiled down and condensed into the basic elements of art and design. Regardless of subject; color, line and composition are key factors in my art. Mark making, color next to color, fluidity, and lines. Repetition and juxtaposition of these elements please me. I think of myself as an artist who draws with paint rather than a “painter”. With my “Circle” series, I’ve gone beyond the representational subjects of the figure or landscape and created something immediate, visually compelling, yet, simple in its intrinsic energy. My art is not a road map or mirror held up to reflect the political or social climate; it is an escape route. It is so much more than the everyday suffocating stale reality of our harsh world. There is nothing to figure out. You feel my paintings like the low bass line of your favorite song, the passing scent of a spring flower, the warmth of sun through a stained glass window; like what you seek in this world but only find in the fleeting memories of a blurry dream. Fueled by coffee, sugar, and loud music, I paint. As opposed to acrylic and oils, with which I used to paint, the luminescent unforgiving fluidity of watercolors pushes my creativity and skill through questions and frustration to the point of something unexpected… a magnificent mistake, or rather, a barely controlled crash and burn.