Portfolio of Works
I had a pet raven when I was nine years old. The day he flew away I was heartbroken. In the years to follow I drew him every day, thinking he would come back, believing in the magic of art. He was and continues to be one of my muses, nature being the second one. Most of my ravens' paintings focus on the whimsical and represent impressions drawn from personal encounters with these creatures sharing my love of animals and their individual personalities, bringing awareness of their beauty and significance in the natural environment in which they live. The Dumpsters in my "DUMPSTER DIVING's series are done with lot's of texture and many layers of paint, scraping, sanding, etc to create the real rusted and decayed look of an old dumpster. The top edges are built up like the real ones.
This is my new collection with intense and expressive color representing the animals that touched my life in farms, in zoos or during my travels, in a contemporary and abstracted style. Some of these paintings continue to explore my love of animals and how they can reflect our own human nature. It's always been about the animals for me. As long as I can remember, there has been an animal in my life, at my side, walking with me through thick and thin. Animals have always been my best friends, and since I was a little girl, I have understood them well, in fact, often better than my fellow humans. My paternal grandfather had a farm. When staying at his home, I played with cows, sheep, goats, rabbits, horses, chickens and even piglets. I help him feed a baby goat and she got very attached to me, following everywhere.
Rather than re-creating landscapes in my paintings, I aim to express their essence.
Elements in nature hold a special place in my memory. I paint the mood of sea, land and sky with feelings using light, textures and colors of memories, my paintings are recollected expressions of what surrounds me as well as many visited places around the world.
Obviously, no single work can hope to distill the complex spirit of a landscape, much less the infinitely sophisticated ecology that sustains it. In these paintings, while exploring the horizon and other principles of landscape, (distance, texture, movement and pattern) I try to capture the feeling of being in that place, the essence of a moment in time. Horizon is defined as “the apparent juncture between earth and sky”. We all know what it is, can point to it in our landscape, and yet cannot ever reach it...but we have infinite ways of portraying it. It is a metaphor for our vision, for what we are reaching for. I am only interested in portraying the landscape in a personal way revealing the communion I find with nature.
Magic has to be involved in painting, without it the painting can become a mere illustration.
In this collection I decided to let my imagination rule, not being afraid to give the paintings a touch of fantasy, where I feel time is suspended and being on the brink of chaos.
I play with colors, contrast, movement and texture with multiple layers in oil and cold wax.
