Study for Chasing Coral and Night Fishing Drawing

I'm a Canadian-American abstract expressionist painter currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. I started my painting career as a portrait painter because I had an eye for detail but always wished I could "get more feeling" into my paintings. Only when I began to paint for me rather than to please other people did this begin to happen. Painting for me is like meditation where things come up unannounced and unexpected. I try to accept, trust and value whatever appears. Painting on big canvases is what I love so I can move with the paint, and I never paint without listening to music. I can’t imagine painting sitting down! I paint fast, to keep ahead of my thoughts. Sometimes when I'm finished, I have little idea how I got there. When I look at a painting and say to myself, “How did I do that?” then it's been a good day in the studio! Originally Canadian, I have lived in Europe and Asia as well as the US, so I have been blessed with a life of travel and it is one of my sources of inspiration. I don't paint until I return, but seem to absorb the colors, atmospheres and vibes of places that affect me on an emotional level. My other source if inspiration is more internal and stems from struggles to overcome a very difficult early family dynamic. My favorite advice came from my former advisor, the well-known and amazing artist, Larry Poons, "Trixie, try to say good-bye the way you say hello!" I knew exactly what he meant. Just go for it right to the end and don't start analyzing and "fixing". He would also bellow, "Don't think, just paint," and "Stop looking, just paint." Then of course there is Bob Ross's (more gentle) classic comment, "there are no mistakes, just happy accidents!"