I enjoy a certain ambiguity in art - images that allow the viewer a personal, intimate interpretation and experience. I've been told this is the intention in Symbolist Art. It uses symbols to express the essence of things by suggestion and by appealing to the heart of the viewer, as well as one's unconcious mind and intellect. This series is about being in one's essential nature, underneath personality and beyond the everyday. It is about women and spirituality, sensualtiy, joy, nature and how to meet unexpected and often unseen forces.
These life sized images of women have come to me over the years and stayed with me until I've painted them. They came in dreams or started as tiny sketches then seemed to demand a larger presentation.
First, I hired a model and made several drawings and watercolors to study the figure and its place in the conceived composition. I then created a full scale drawing or 'cartoon' and transfered it to the panel with graphite. Next I painted in loose and thin layers of oil. I continued with transparent glazes and finally, a few light opaques. I varnished to bring out the layers of color.
I also sculpt the figure and the face and have enjoyed figure drawing groups for years. Each media I use seems to complement the other. I also paint landscape, still life, and everyday scenes of people in oil and watercolor. And although I love to use watercolor, I have had an enduring fascination with classical oil technique.
I hope these paintings suggest how to stay in one's essence in the face of life's challenges. As I have painted 'the ladies' in the quiet of my studio, I think they have been silent companions and seers in my own quest for inner knowledge and peace.
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