ON EXHIBIT AT CENTRAL BANK OF BOONE COUNTY: NOVEMBER 21 - JANUARY 3, 2023
Artist Statement
Course Made Good
“Course Made Good” is a nautical term referring to a ship having found its direction, by virtue of currents, wind, and helmsmanship. After over twenty years of working in (and loving) mixed media, I, too, have discovered a new direction. My ship has turned. I stand at the helm with the winds of change at my back, plotting a new destination. I’d said for many years that I wanted to paint. I said that if I ever started I would be unstoppable. I nevertheless found painting somehow terrifying. Then, by a bit of luck, I found my teacher and my joy and I set off, gallivanting. Seeking passage through new waters.
I discovered that the blank canvas is not at all intimidating. It is a playground. In acrylic painting, layers are prized, inviting wild first marks, made with abandon. Unwelcome bits can easily be covered up, perhaps leaving half-hidden treasures. So the white expanse of canvas is simply an invitation to begin, in any way I choose. It is rife with possibility, much like the open sea. My shaky hands are not the hindrance I thought they might be. They are simply an unusual tool for markmaking. I do not need to be skilled with skinny brushes or use them ever at all, if I’d rather not. The world is absolutely full of ways to make magic with paint.
This is not to say that there is no struggle, midway through. But the struggle, they say, gives the painting character and depth. My favorite painting here is one that I worked and worked and worked on, arriving, suddenly and at last, at the joy.
This collection of paintings is loosely centered around places and environments I love, some real, some imagined. New York City. Paris. Maine. The sea, the sea. The sky. Places I travel in life and secret others that I roam within my inner landscape. My intention with painting is to uplift, enliven, and bring joy to a world that is often so very challenging. I seek that combination of color, light, symbols, and shapes that opens my eyes a little wider, awakens my brain, and brings a bit of spaciousness to my heart. Yours, too, I hope.
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