Content for id "Hero" Goes HereAbout the Artist
Art is both a process and a means of communication. Right now this whole process plays out best for me in the field of figurative painting. The human figure is a magnet for mystery and fascination. Feelings and perspectives shift and overlap, creating an endless range of possibilities to explore. I am intrigued by the dance between realistic and abstract elements. I believe this mirrors in some way human experience itself.
Sometimes I begin by painting an abstract design and sketching in a figure in chalk. Other times I just start applying paint, not thinking beyond the color itself, turning the painting upside down and around to develop shapes and color relationships. Background is the grounding that helps to create the figure that ultimately develops. Ideas for paintings come from my imagination, models, and photographs, at times a combination of all three of these elements.
The feeling in a piece is paramount. I stay with a piece until I feel at one with the feeling of the painting. If I feel stuck, I leave the painting for a later re-visiting. One simple guideline I have found helpful is to step back and look at the painting from a distance, not to be fixated on details trying to show everything. Leave a space for the viewer’s imagination to work. It is the viewer’s response that, for the moment, completes the communication of the painting.
I feel greatly indebted to Bay Area figurative painters who reveled in combining abstraction and figurative painting. The dance between abstraction and figurative painting seems a perfect marriage between the internal and external. I feel privileged to live in an area that supports so many artists, art classes, workshops, and an appreciative public.
Background
I am a Montana native, having spent most of my growing up years in Billings, Montana. “Don’t Fence Me In” is an appropriate theme song and, I believe, influences my art. I also reveled in books and music and feel that whatever nourishes the creative spirit is a great treasure.
I was an educator for over 20 years, high school and middle school levels. I was privileged to teach art and crafts classes at Castro Middle School, San Jose, CA, from 1997 to 2001. My art background includes certificate in Creative Arts/UCSC, on-going weekly painting groups with area artists, shows and exhibits which include Open Studios, Santa Cruz County, and various local area galleries and venues.
