MULLIGAN

(especially Tom Thomson); the wonderful color fields of Mark Rothko and the work of talented colorist Wolf Kahn, Canadian watercolorist Toni Onley, the beautiful oils of Prussian-Canadian H.E. Kuckein, American artist, Ken Elliot, Italian painter, Marco Fallani and Dutch-American artist, Luc Leestemaker, all, whose amazing landscapes have had such an impact and influence on my work.

I live and paint beside the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. My painting career spans 43 years, 23 years as a watercolorist, and the last 20 years as an oil painter. I paint mainly on wood panels ranging from 10 inches square to 84 inches and beyond. When the painting is completed, I finish the edges of the panels trimmed with kiln-dried birch or Douglas fir, sanding them smooth and sealing the edges with a matte varnish so that the panel may be hung framed or unframed as finished paintings.

I usually paint in series and number each painting in that particular series starting from the first or initial painting. In 2017, I learned about combining cold wax with oil paint. This combination enables me to build up many layers of paint slowly.

Adding and removing sections of the layered paint then acts as the visual support for what will later be revealed from the first, second, or sixth layers. This technique visually adds more texture and depth to the painting while keeping the ethereal quality of the piece. In addition, the ability to reveal earlier layers of paint often adds that final touch that tells me when the painting is complete.

My paintings are representative and a compilation of everything I’ve seen and experienced in my life to that point in time.

I paint mostly seascapes and landscapes because I love the water and sky. My compositions often feature a low horizon which better emphasizes the vastness of the sky and the colors and contrasts I see there. The paintings reveal themselves to me as I paint.

I let go completely, empty my mind, let the ‘innate knowingness’ take over, and allow that most profound part of me to flow. . .and miracles happen! I become the conduit through which creation occurs. It is a feeling of freedom and love and joy that words cannot adequately express.

In a publication of ARTisSpectrum Magazine in New York, one art critic wrote, “her work is an open interpretation of a universal subject – space, or perhaps light, or perhaps the two combined - that recalls images as disparate as Turner’s oceans, Monet’s sunrises, and Stieglitz’s cloud studies. At one glance, an image seems merely to be piles of paint; at a second, it has become a textured horizon. There is a certain “earthiness” in the artist’s choice of colors as she melds the qualities of the land, sea and sky.”

I endeavor to convey feeling and mood through my paintings, and people often remark on my work’s “ethereal” quality.

They tell me they experience a profound sense of peace and well-being upon viewing my paintings.

I believe my life is an ever-changing journey of self-discovery, and my paintings express love.

Painting makes my heart sing!

The technical aspects of painting remain the same . . .necessary and essential. However, they are as unconsciously accomplished when I work as breathing. The painting itself draws out my heart and soul of me simply by me picking up the palette knife and brush and allowing the piece to life. I do not question this, and by my acceptance, each painting takes on a life and purpose of its own. Through this amazing act of creation, I am grateful to share my love and joy with the world.”

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