The Crescent Moon Bear Painting

In the process of creating I find joy in discovering harmony and beauty among the chaos. This mirrors my relation to life. Whether viewing or creating a painting, what holds my attention the most is a sense of history and mystery. Painting for me is all about the paint and, of course, the color. I lay the paint down and then start responding to it. I push myself to go beyond what is safe, nice or precious. I go into a part of the work I am enjoying and do something completely out of control. This forces me to keep working it. The result is that there arises a unique complexity within the resulting painting that cannot be preplanned or explained. When I stand before an empty canvas or piece of paper, I am lost, unaware of what to do. In fact, my most satisfying work comes from staying lost. Navigational confidence is seldom productive for me. Each piece becomes the recording of a unique introspective exploration. I am primarily self taught. "For vivid, saturated color and an intuitive mastery of composition and surface, it's hard to beat painter Katherine Treffinger. Her current show is an ode to chartreuse, turquoise and orange-red, interwoven with sinuous, meandering lines and circles that unify the picture plane and lend a jaunty visual syncopation. In Coltrane, circles cluster like grapes, while in The Grotto, turquoise drips seep downward into pink drips rising upward against gravity. Deep Sea Diving, a riot of scratch-work, flecks, drips and miasmas, encapsulates this artist's adeptness at simultaneously balming and piquing the eye." Richard Speer, Art Critic Portland, Oregon's Willamette Week Review and Pick April 6, 2011