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"When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen:  There will be something solid for you to stand upon, or, you will be taught how to fly."- Patrick Overton
"To be a painter is to grasp at existence. It is a risk, desire, the unconsciousness speaking, and chance, all of which continue to be essential elements to creating. No moral posturing, no judgment, simply with each stroke to make an affirmation. A desire  to explore certain emotional universes, to go deep inside, without any care. A ride into the painting to the vanishing point of self-awareness.
My work grows from the duel between the solitary person I am inside -isolated to the desire to have appreciation from the viewer. I want to communicate only to the extent that the painting will serve to induce or intensify the viewer’s natural desire for contemplation."  - Cheryl Johnson

“At best the artist does what she can rather than what she wants to do.” (Louise Bourgois)

Rambling Thoughts
My present work has evolved out of my interest in using surface texture to enhance my non-representational and my representational work. My abstract work flows from my belief in the capacity of art to create its own unique world. I begin a painting by making marks, which then lead to color choices and suddenly the painting takes on a life of its own. The paintings are often about the act of painting itself—its gestural rhythms, the power of color, the expressiveness of marks and the interaction of textures. It is the world where I am lost in the finding.

I am a firm believer that simple is hard and that design is truly about balance and pleasing composition.

My drive is to pull back the color and noise of life, making quiet the clanging and clutter and many bombarding images and clear the tangles of overlapping branches and discordant feelings to reveal a moment of space that creates a world of color and harmony.

My works are evident of my struggle to find that inner place of peace we all search for. I find that bright colours often collide in solid strokes of directional purpose. Dark hues may create form or figure and perhaps our visceral response is to want to look behind the color and shapes and line and find the emotional spectacle that wants to come out.

I often turn the flashlight on memory and forgotten places and faces will emerge. I now consider myself to be an Abstract Expressionist painter sharing my artistic talent by creating richly layered canvases filled with calligraphic marks and color.

My intention is to create work that is truthful and real, that has depth and is compelling from a distance and up close. We live in times of exponential change. Capturing these important times is a significant part of my creative process.I'm a believer in energy and passion. Keeping it simple. Being obsessive over my art and craft. I'm curious, empathetic, rigorous, and experimental. I appreciate a holistic way of looking at creating and do not obsess over rules. I love solving design problems and I like accelerated results. Thinking quick, rapid movement, and learning through experimentation. I seek to own creative excellence at every touch-point.

I love living in both the mainland and Hawaii. As I create in Kauai, my goal is to convey the color and tropical tapestry feelings of Hawaii. I am inspired to paint people, moments and abstract feeling that represent the great spirituality found on the islands. I paint with passion and spontaneity. I also wish for the viewer to have a deep, personal connection with in their own memories of their experiences of, and from, the Hawaiian Islands.



Art invokes the spirit. Each painting has a life of its own. It is finished when it is independent of me. The light and dark images evoke our struggles to overcome spiritual darkness. My work is an action to bring about light. I see my role as an artist to invigorate, inspire and illuminate.
 
Intention leads to the story. My intention is to create work that is truthful and real, that has depth and is compelling from a distance and up close. We live in times of exponential change. Capturing these important times is a significant part of my creative process.

“I want my work to exude joy, celebration, measured clarity and a sense of energy balanced by calm. Creating art is more about communicating what I’m feeling than what I’m seeing. I’m interested in trying to communicate an atmosphere. When you create work from your own ideas, dreams or original point of view, it makes it easy for you to stand behind your work.”
I am interested in what paint can do, making marks that expressively respond to my inner muse, thought's and actions. I want my works to be visually exciting, capable of engaging the eye, the emotions and stimulating the mind of the viewer.
I am an artist making marks, coloring outside the lines. I create a visual language of form, color and line to create compositions often independent from visual references to actual persons, places or things.  I relate to the Abstract Expressionistic attitude that incorporates both a conscious marking as well as accidental marks, stains and drips.
I love the process of creating and take liberties, altering color and form in ways that are very evident or, in contrast, subtle or obscured. I respond to mood and place. My paintings are an array of colors, and their infinite combinations. I explore media of colour and enjoy their physical properties — opacity, translucence, or viscous feel.
I love spontaneity when accidents occur, like a stray dribble or a sublimated lower area or an implied layer or half curve. These imperfect aspects of painting often present a greater opportunity to advance the piece.
I alway make my best attempt to capture the beauty of both the spirit of the human body and its motion. The figures in my images are formed into something similar to a sculpture; created by combining memory and emotion. By putting together uninterrupted individual moments, the resulting image as a whole will appear to be something different from what first glance reveals. Hopefully, a connection can be made to a human being’s perception of 'presence' in life.
I create emotionally charged abstracts, meditative landscapes and figure studies that offer a space for the viewer to explore their own emotions. I work in series and am influenced by the perpetual seasons and cycles of the earth."
 
What is my favorite painting? My next one...

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