Artist Statement

"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.