Whether it is light on baskets, light through colored bottles, as sprinkled light on gardens or light coming through transparent leaves and flowers, a theme throughout my paintings has been light in the natural world.
Also, through the transparency of watercolor, suggestions of the drawings of things, people, plants, animals, and places show through. For me, the drawing part is a main attraction, both in creating it and in having its underlying structure apparent.
Lastly, I can’t resist maximizing the contrasts of light to dark. To my eye, from the white of the paper to the saturated dark of layers of paint sitting atop each other, it is these extreme contrasts brought together that make painting mesmerizing.
For a time, I had despaired that my passion for painting and my passion for the spiritual pilgrimage were separate from each other. I felt torn between the two. Then, as if in answer to my need, I was inspired to put Guadalupe in my painting.
With the first painting, “Ave Maria Guadalupe”, I began to be able to visually describe the inner quest to feel love and loved. Now, the experience of creating my paintings became the spiritual container for my search for self-affirmation.
When I paint her in my painting, I feel I am connecting with all-compassionate love and helping that love be alive in me, even co-creating it through placing these images of The Mother in my paintings.
These paintings arose from a gallery owner’s comment that I simplify my painting. Happily, I found a way to please both of us. I was able to honor my creative eye by painting to my heart’s content the intricacies of each flower. And the plain white paper background fulfilled his vision for simplifying.
For the titles of each iris I sat with the paintings and let words stream through until the one which felt right settled. I liked that an iris could have integrity….just for being herself.
The “Iris Integrity Series” is available as “giclees” printed on aluminum. Click here for size, pricing and to purchase prints and artcards.