I began this painting at the beginning of the pandemic. I have to admit it was a bit cathartic, taking away, adding, a bit here, a bit there. It seems most appropriate that it was accepted into an exhibition called “home'“.

From Juror, Jennifer Wiegle: How we see our homes is very much a reflection of how we see ourselves. What is important to us? What dark thoughts lurk in the closet or under the bed and keep us up at night? What lights our way to carry us through our dark times, and what gives us cause to sing and dance in the kitchen? Home is a reflection of where we are in our lives, where we have been, and where we are going.”

I created these two pieces below in response to HOME. They are called Night Garden and in a nod to my optimistic bend in light of the evidence I reach for what still grows in the darkness, perhaps what grows just outside our window.

My palette through the years has been pegged as colorful and vibrant with a noticeable lack of neutrals, however, my subject matter has often dealt with the shadow sides of life. It would seem as if the bleaker reality shows itself to be the brighter the color and I would have to say that is a fair assessment. I first picked up a paintbrush in order to make ends meet in the middle of a divorce and the adjustments of single parenthood. Working as an elementary teacher, trained as a designer/computer animator I had the impulse to paint. Five days a week I painted from 4:30am to 6:00 am until it was time to get my son up for school and both of us off to school. My first exhibition was held in the back of my classroom and the staff was generous and bought most of the still life paintings. They could have been just being supportive, but it was a start. These paintings were bright and bold in the middle of my own darkness, mostly because I could only afford the primary colors, white and black, five tubes of paint, but something else was at work. This brightness came out from a small space of hopefulness within myself. That space has been nurtured through the years and has helped navigate me through all kinds of waters. Art is a reflection of the artist and so it goes.