Artist’s Statement

In making a painting the process is most fluid when it is free of thought. When I begin a painting my only concern is to layer and build. A painting may begin with several layers of paper glued on a board or canvas in a collage of color and line.  I use magazines, art papers, scrapes of this and that, and copies of vintage photographs. Oil paint is my favorite medium, I may start with acrylic or gouache, but it's usually the oils that lure me in the end.

These new paintings evolved after a long dry spell which came after the death of my parents. I was inspired after spending hours going through boxes of vintage photographs of my mother as a young girl. The photos made me curious about her at that age. She appeared so alive and filled with joy, hope, and dreams for her future. You can see these things in photographs, in the eyes of a person the soul can truly be uncovered. I began to think about the dreams of our mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends, how we as woman go about making our lives. How do our aspirations differ from men? Do we continue to strive for our hopes and dreams as individuals? Or, do we let go of them as caretakers—as wife and/or mother.

I think of these paintings as my small gift to the memory of my mother, as she too was an artist—a painter and a dancer. These paintings are a mix of her and me, just as we share the same DNA. My mother married my father and raised a family, which was indeed, one of her beautiful dreams. Though sadly, the other one she gave up. Maybe it was the era, the thing most woman of that generation did. I am thankful to her and my father, thankful for the opportunities they gave me, thankful that they raised me in such a way that I never knew I had to make a choice between my dreams.