Darkness Made Visible

                                     "Apparition I" 30x30 Encaustic

I originally started these paintings as a side exploration.  I was reading the book, Black: The History of a Color, by Michel Pastoureau when I decided I wanted to work with black and shades thereof.  Nothing happens by accident!  I chose my color palette, as I always do when I begin a painting...and it is typical that the painting only reveals itself to me at the very end.  So it was with this first painting.  I laid down the final mark and stepped away.  Much to my surprise, I saw the figure of a woman's body!  I could not deny it.  I called it Apparition because not only was it something or someone appearing to me it was something becoming visible, a truth, a reality.  It haunted me.  So I decided to create the next painting.

 

                                   "Apparition II"  30x30 Encaustic

My color choices, black, graphite grey, buff titanium, and light blue with a hint of brown pink, helped to give the paintings this ethereal look.  I continued to search for the person or truth that was trying to make itself known to me.  Between the time it took for me to paint the second and third painting, the darkness was made visible.  I just had to listen for it to be revealed.

                                  "Apparition III"  30x30  Encaustic

By the completion of the third painting, all was illuminated for me.  I am in a place of comfort and satisfaction in my life.  I know what I want and what I will do to get it.  I know who's important to me and who is just a passing phase.  I am in search of all that is true in life, in all beings and things.  Join me if you will....

                                       "Undergrowth"  30x30  Encaustic

Undergrowth is any vegetation in the forest that obstructs the passage through that said forest.  This painting is about the things in life that stunt our progress and growth.  It is about the little things that we don't necessarily see or feel that are happening at a most basic level, unbeknownst to us.  The canopy could be flourishing but there is still brush getting in the way.  It could be a bad habit, a person, place, or thing...causing us to go off track or get lost.  We weren't given directions.  We need to trust in the "forest", our community, that we will find the way.

                                       "Abundance"  30x30  Encaustic

It is sort of funny that this painting immediately follows Undergrowth.  Despite the fact that we were not given a roadmap, we were provided with all the necessary tools that are needed to get through this life.  I believe that if take the time to pause and listen to the ultimate source of things, we will get our direction.  Life is full.  Life is abundant.  Everything we need is right here at our fingertips.  Live.  Laugh.  Love.

                                          

                                             "Wistful"  30x30  Encaustic

I like "Wistful" because it is sort of a conundrum.  It is pretty on the outside but really spinning out of control upon closer inspection.  The painting is about vague yearnings and disconnectedness.  Despite the airy, bubbly feel the work exudes, none of the lines in the painting, although very active, ever connect.  I think I can make this leap into how I and perhaps many of us have at one point or another have dealt with situations in life.  How often do we put on a pretty face, a facade, when the inside is crumbling?  How often do we show our true desires or our lack of satisfaction?  All the extras- clothes, make-up, perfect hair or body, they don't add up to understanding and true, ultimate satisfaction.  I strive in my life to come to the center and recognize my desires and present the true me.

                           "Through the Course of Time"  30x30  Encaustic

This painting is simply about opportunity and relationships.  It is my belief that over time things will happen as they are supposed to and not how we will them to.  There are no coincidences in life, things come together as they are meant to.  Despite all of our best efforts, the universe has the last laugh!

"I Dreamt of Red" 30x30 Encaustic



I will be showing at NK Gallery with other artists- Tracy Spadafora, Heather Hilton, and Kathy Halamka.  All works include encaustic in some way.  The show is from June 29th through July 20th, with a reception on July 6th, from 5-8pm.  Please join me in celebrating this new work!

                                            Crossing 30x24  Encaustic

Crossing…this is almost a painting that is offered as a rhetorical question.  It is a precursor to the next painting Undercurrent.  Crossing is about a shift, a going to the other side...what’s on the other side…opportunity, curiosity, good/ bad?  What about the crossing or the thing crossed on?   Is there risk?  What about falling or failing?  Is there much contemplation? Are we alone? With others? Alive or dead?  Are we moving from a place of safety to a place of uncertainty….a place where there are risks to be taken, but where I have to trust my inner sanctity?  Can I ask others, or is it a time where I have to be self-reliant?  Must I cross alone?

                                          Undercurrent 30x30  Encaustic

Undercurrent is the pulse of the universe in my blood…it gives me my character and stamina. It is what drives me mentally and physically. It is what I use to filter the people, places, and things that distract me from my internal goals. We can usually tell when we are going against this undercurrent…internal dialogue is confused, perhaps speaking a different language, our actions are ill intentioned, and things just aren’t right. We could go on like this for a long time, for some it could last a life time.  I would go so far as to call it the soul.  Some never get in touch with this part of themselves, perhaps a tragedy. Some find it late in life…some are addicted, conflicted and abused and never have the opportunity to tap into that current of their life that could offer them meaning on a whole different level.  I believe it necessary to cross, to be self- reliant when we need to be. We are not separate from the world, we are interconnected with it. There are those who would never think of the soul, and those who resist the undercurrent…but no matter how hard we try to separate the two, it cannot be done. One affects all. And when we are gone, I believe the current continues.  Are you in touch with yours?  Where is it Crossing?

Desire and Action

                                          Latitude 30x30 Encaustic

I think freedom is a falsity, perhaps just an illusion. More like a restraint, no? Being autonomous, when I consider the freedoms I allow myself, which pale in comparison to the restraints that I place on myself as an artist, as a woman, as a human being, I realize I deny my human desires, wants, and pleasures which come wrought with anxiety in exchange for repetition, safety and comfort. But is it truly helping me to exist in a world where things are the same and liberty is coloring in the lines? What would happen if I took that trail instead? What would happen if I expressed this thought in another medium? What would happen if I truly let go? There is much fear that that freedom would lead to chaos, thus becoming the opposite of its intent. Then we place restrictions on ourselves. But I have to learn to give myself Latitude. Latitude to create and live beyond what I allow myself. Try new things. Ask questions. See more. Desire. Want. Drink of Life.

                                          Folds in Time 30x30 Encaustic

Folds in Time is also very elemental and basic. It is about the peeling back of ancestral layers of time and history to reveal what has always been. The folds, or creases can never be erased, denied, or ironed out. It speaks of the human condition and of all things passed down from generation to generation. It relates to Latitude in the sense that, freedom, a very human trait, has a very generational definition from person to person or culture to culture. We must peal these layers back in order to get to the truth.

Dreaming...

"I Dreamt of Red II"







I wanted to present these two paintings which are a part of a relatively new series, and I have been trying to find the words to express exactly what they mean.  The problem is, I often paint because I don't have the words.  What is dreaming really?  Do we dream about our desires that go unfulfilled?  Of the future?  Fantasy?  Things we want but can't have?  Friends, love, companionship?  And what about the difference between a daydream and a dream we have while not fully concious?  I often think my dreams are in red, a color of fire, passion, love, and desire. 

"I Dreamt of Red"

These are the colors of my spirit.  The words sometimes follow, sometimes do not.  I paint to speak and I dream in Red.