My First Blog

​My story
As a lifelong artist, first commercially, which paid the bills, I was always under the direction of employers and client’s expectations. Creatively I felt more like a robot. My seven years of formal education in art, followed by over 20 years of commercial work for national and international clients served me well. This eventually lead to a job as Art Director. A job that did not fit me at all. Through a major life change and event, I questioned my contributing value of what I was creating.
I have no trouble painting and drawing figures, landscapes and anything representational that comes from nature. But it wasn’t enough. 
There was always an emptiness and a searching. 
Falling into abstract paintings was not intentional, it just happened. 
But I discovered that I became alive creatively. 

The only way that I can explain this is when I work in the abstract it is the hardest and most rewarding of all the visual arts. I feel as if my brain is on fire and it feels good even though there are many pitfalls while I work. But it makes life worth living. I’m not quite sure how to express the benefits of working in abstraction but boundaries are gone and new discoveries are available to me and to everyone willing to take risks though visual expression. The proof is seeing these rewards in students I teach. The benefits of abstractions is far beyond creating a representational painting.
Seeking more difficult challenges has become vital and forces me to find better solutions with each new painting.