A Chance to Play

Coming back to painting, I found my way to what I'd wanted all along--and then something surprising happened.

I’ve said that my love of painting began in the 80’s, but that is not the whole story. It really began when I was a little and saw someone creating what looked to me like magic with a paint brush.  Then, at age 8, I got the rare and coveted spot at the only easel in the classroom. This was it! An image flashed behind my eyes. This was what I would paint! Then I paused to consider the abstract image in my mind's eye, What would people do if I painted something so striking and strange? And then I chose what so many others had painted: a house, a family, a smiling sun in the sky. The result was disappointing.

But flash forward, again. That image stayed with me, and I was dedicated to an art journal practice. What more perfect place to finally bring that image into reality? Here is that journal page, with its colors arching like a rainbow, but not in rainbow colors. And, something surprising: figures cradled within the arches of color. It may not be a masterpiece, but it’s… something. A reclamation, perhaps.