I paint because it is a joy to see something no one has ever seen before. Creating a painting is like going to an exciting and unknown country. It is challenging because the canvas is always white and empty to start with. It is exhilarating because there is total freedom to create anything. Imagine making a delicious cake without using a recipe or measuring ingredients, rather using intuition and experience to guide your hands.
In the process I run back and forth, turn the painting around and around, jump, scratch, dance, and play. Sometimes it is exhausting, sometimes difficult or painful, but like living, it is always fulfilling and something to be thankful for. When the painting is complete it is as if it is ready to walk or jump off from the canvas. This is when my paintings get their names. The experience is like creating, birthing, raising, and letting go of a fully formed child.
Sometimes there are symbols or patterns in my paintings. They are not clues or mysteries meant for analysis in isolation, any more than a person’s ears or singing voice or food preferences give you a complete sense of their self. Neither are they without cause. They are like the freckles on a person face, or a tall child next to short parents, or birds in a flock. Sometimes seeming obvious, sometimes mysterious, always open to interpretation, and nonetheless enchanting and sensible before any interpretation occurs. Remember that interpretation occurs after sensation.
For me painting is not an escape from life, or an occupation, or a calling, it is life. Though my process of painting is always challenging, and happens even when I am sad or angry, my paintings are cheerful and optimistic. My discipline lies in not using painting as an outlet for my thoughts or emotions. So my paintings are unburdened and free to express the simple joy of their existence.