Here's my first painting of 2022 -- Isolated Incident, oil on canvas, 18" x 24". I don't always know what a painting means when I begin working. My initial goal was to show a different side of myself than the bubbly, exuberant personality that my friends are accustomed to. After capturing my likeness, I found myself veering more toward abstraction in the surrounding space. The shapes that formed around the back of my head became swirling representations of the many-layered thoughts - grief, joy, doubt, fear, hope, sorrow, love - that got amplified during the quiet times of isolation during this past year. As it evolved, this painting came to be about the importance of making peace with the present moment.
Isolated Incident is on view now in the exhibit Face It: Artists’ Portraits at Carl Cherry Center for the Arts in Carmel, California. View the exhibit online here. For purchase information, contact the gallery at info@carlcherrycenter.org or by phone at (831) 624-7491.