I paint abstractly for many reasons, mainly because it’s so varied and, in my case, unpredictable which makes it feel like an adventure.

Just like a trip somewhere, there are moments of excitement (oh look, grizzly!) and frustration (oh no, very wrong turn). Either way, there’s something new to discover or problem to solve.

The materials are luscious, and it’s a gas to play with all the gorgeous colors and experiment with different mediums and tools. I seriously squeal with delight sometimes when I mix a yummy color I haven’t gotten recently, or ever. This happens regularly since I haven’t met a color I don’t like, murky, puke green to bright, clear magenta.

I also like to see what will happen when I do something, or when I don’t do something -- to both push limitations and work within them.

I really don’t know what I’m painting about while I’m painting, although I’m seeing some consistent themes emerge over time. They often, but not always, overlap and intermingle and eventually a few of them coalesce to make a finished piece.   

Mottled, sometimes pearlized, textures are a thread. Hazy, muted, luminous color fields are a thread. Fiery eruptions of color are a thread. Spherical and rectilinear shapes, center compositions and compositions with defined or suggested horizon lines can all make an appearance in any given piece.

It stands to reason these elements relate to thoughts and bits of sensory information that swirl around in my consciousness and subconsciousness and, through painting, some of those little pixels in there come together and reconstitute as a new picture you might want to hang on your wall. I’d love that!

Making art is a fascinating process to participate in, and it’s both fun and maddening to try and figure out what it all might mean.

At the end of the day, your guess is as good as mine. I truly believe paintings become reflections and projections of the painter and the viewer, and these pieces are very much open to your personal interpretation and experience. See what you see, feel what you feel, like them or don’t like them. It’s all good.

Thank you for your interest.

A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it. — W.H. Auden

If You’d Like to Know More … How I Came to Painting

I took up art in my lates forties for fun and therapy to offset a crazy (aka toxic) professional life.

I watched YouTubes every night for years - about how to paint, about paint, art materials and tools, about paintings, art history and artists, about all things art.

I practiced alongside the artists in the videos and played around with everything I could get my hands on - acrylics, watercolor, collage, colored pencil, ink, charcoal and eventually oils.

I became an art materials junkie.

I took workshops and signed on with an artist mentor for a year.

The materials, particularly the paint, had me from the get go, and the practice itself had an overwhelmingly positive impact on my mental health and well-being.

Making art, and the many teachers / artists I’ve met, quite literally brought me back to life.

I’d offer that art in some form has a place in everyone’s life. The benefits are profound and life-changing, all to the good. I encourage anyone and everyone to give it a go.

Outside of art, I love my animals, art and travel, hiking, wild places, reading, food and gardening and rewilding my wee property and much more.