The process of creating art is different for everyone. For me it started as a young girl, drawing from imagination about mythical stories of castles and fair maidens. As I got older I became observant of the world around me and found human faces so exciting to draw. I became obsessed with drawing them. Over and over until it looked right. They never did though. Not until I broke through my technical barriers as a late teen. Once I had a technical foundation it was incredibly easy to translate what I saw into a portrait.
The process of learning technical qualities to render images was very important to my artistic development but as I get older and my art practice changes I have become convinced these very techniques are now holding me back from deeper expression and discovery.
For the last year and a half I have worked through a process of unlearning to free myself and my art from visual limitations that I placed on myself as a budding artist. My abstract paintings are all compositions that come to me in a natural and instinctual way. I don’t pre-meditate my movements or thoughts. I like to chose a colour, or several, and then go from there. I have found circles and splatters to be a trusted ally. The act of painting circles has been very therapeutic and I think remind us that we are all connected like a circle. No beginning an no end.
Don’t get me wrong, unlearning has been tough! Those techniques of seeing are so engrained in my muscle and brain memory. As I work through this in my painting I am finding more and more ways to express myself in non-literal or non-figurative ways. It’s been a real treat. Happy painting!