THE ORACLE BONES 1-12, # 9 Painting

I began painting in 1992 in California with a group of women involved in a study group of what one man thought to be the next art movement at that time. Women. We were a group of 6 working women from every walk of life painting a few hours a day together with this man as a guide. We were painting dreams, thoughts, images with colour and shapes tracking our emotions. Painting became a way to learn about myself, often decoding my own paintings. Sometimes after years a new notion of what a particular painting really was about would appear. This was for my own purpose in the beginning. I started showing my work in 1995 with great success, finally allowing others to share my emotional response to life. Thus painting turned to a profession. I believe strongly in art as a healing solution that can cross a divide between consciousness and our subconscious. I prefer the viewer to find his own message. The message for me is as Emile Zola said 'I am living out loud'. I seldom know what the painting is until it is finished, often waiting for the voice and feeling stifled, sometimes pleasantly surprised and at times disturbed. Sometimes I have an idea to begin with such as THE ORCLE BONE SERIES which was inspired by a poet friend of mine on his sabbatical journey through China for two years, and ANCIENT SYMMETRY with includes turtle plastrons and the truths of kings... My technique is whatever is at hand to paint with and I continue to experiment. In Cuba 1998, a friend used boar's eyelashes as bristols for the brushes he made and gasoline as Medium. I learned how much we don't really need in life and how to do things with alternative methods. Traveling around for years, painting in different countries, learning the languages and movement of the people, I discovered my own emotional language and I am a much better person for it. That is why I paint - it is what I paint. I am grateful to have this expression for life, grateful to that little study group in 1992. I have settled in a tiny village on a mountain on the Island of Naxos in Greece the past 22 years. My Minnesota roots bode well for chopping wood and weathering storms. Painting lives my life as I continue to document my being through shapes and forms. I return to the US; Palm Springs, California and Northern Minnesota often to create in my studios there and spend time with my family. "Art is a solution - without it, we can never truly examine our own circumstances.