"My Kinetic Redhead" Painting

I am a self-taught artist, a German-born immigrant who at the age of 11 escaped the clutches of Soviet-led East Germany. I entered the United States as an Air Force spouse in 1966. Now I am retired from a professional career and reside at Lake Frederick, Virginia, where I actively pursue my 40-year artistic passion. Since moving to Virginia in 2010, I have produced many Solo Exhibits throughout the Shenandoah Valley, received many international and local awards, and participated in more than a dozen regional and international juried shows. For seven years I held weekly workshops for two neighborhood art groups. For these I motivated my students by organizing local public exhibits. I have been featured in several national and local newspapers and magazines. My works are also displayed in Germany, California, Florida, Indiana, Wisconsin, Georgia, Virginia, and Nebraska. I am currently a member of the international Cold Wax Academy and the Shenandoah Arts Council.
Art Statement
I consider myself a mixed media/oil and cold wax abstract artist. My work is process oriented with exploration, spontaneity, and discovery being key elements. I incorporate deliberate mark making, texture, lines, shapes, and colors often in many layers, often as many as ten or more such layers. I combine forms, colors, and relationships without being constrained to one specific literal object. I am an artist whose work crosses the barrier from image to anthropomorphism. This occurs when my colors scream and demand to be included in the work.
When painting I experiment with various tools thus creating different effects and textures. I have come to realize that experimentation is the key. This is where discoveries happen and where surprises are.
I draw inspiration from music, nature, the places I have visited, my own history, as well as my own imagination. I observe my world with guarded senses and process it with artistic means.
I look at my work from various perspectives to seek what it suggests rather than limit myself to a preconceived idea of what the piece should be. The challenge is to avoid the temptation that my art “represents” something but rather that it expresses itself. This creates the most effective composition.