Peppermint Emerging Painting

I am a creator and art is my life. I am a painter, a writer, a singer, a designer. I work with oil, acrylic, and watercolor, clay, wood, fabrics of all kinds, seed beads on a loom, feathers, paper, and anything that strikes me to create. I perform jazz and blues and I don’t rehearse because I love spontaneity. I was also a professional dancer. Ballet did not give me enough expression for my passion. The hard driving drama and fire of Flamenco took me to a realm of consciousness that was totally intoxicating and inspiring. I was to be the protégé of Spain’s premier Flamenco artist at the time. He was an international sensation. But one night, in the parking lot of a drug store where I had gone to buy a light bulb, I was shot point blank in the back by drug addicts who attacked and meant to kill me. This ended that career. All that I have experienced in my life has been an inspiration for living. I have lived and exhibited in a number of U.S. cities. I was born in and always lived in cities. Two and a half years ago, I moved to the mountains and now live in a National forest. I am very much a loner, except of course, when I perform. I am now in my element; I am home. I am supposed to describe my paintings herein. My pictorial surrealism should speak for itself. They always have to do with me personally. Portraits that I do are almost always people I have known. The very best of my portraits I call “spirit portraits”. These come as visions, sometimes of people before I even meet them, or have ever seen them. I’m working on a series that I am calling “Native Americans from the Past”. This is very much a part of me because of my Dakota blood. I am inspired to create by everything I do, from my singing to an extensive, never ending wardrobe that I have designed and created as a seamstress. My paintings will always come first, but I am also a writer, from poetry to blogging. I have written 3 books under 2 pseudonyms. My latest is “James Dean: A Haunting and Other Supernatural Phenomena”. I have been haunted by James Dean since the age of 13 when I first discovered him through his movies. Our spirits have been together in many lifetimes. He was my father, a brother, uncle, sage, teacher, priest, but never my lover. So this has not been romantic, sexual fantasy! Anyone who doesn’t understand what I am talking about could never like or understand my work.