Could you tell us about Transformation II?

This white painting is titled Transformation II. However, it is imperative that I describe it as a parallel to the black painting, Transformation I. My last body of work for a solo exhibition last year titled Silence is Home was a series of paintings after the recent passing of my husband of 30+ years. The black painting, Transformation I, was a tribute to my husband. In it are suggestions of his identity and the things he loved. White memories coming back from the dark. So, Transformation II, white on black, is its counterpart representing me. The female shape (with her back to us) on the lower right quadrant is looking upward toward the three dark shaded sitting images of my three daughters. Some of the figurative shapes represented the coming struggles for me to move forward. The large figure on the lower left represents the woman I knew I needed to become: strong, confident, independent, almost super-human or an animal-like transformation.

I understand that you work through a process of repeatedly adding new layers, then scraping and removing them. And here you are using both oil and enamel. Could you describe your working process?

Yes, I begin by adding layers of enamel and acrylic paints and then I immediately begin to scrape it further before it dries. This allows for contrast on the bottom layer. I follow by completely covering the entire canvas with oil paint of one color. I use oils because it allows for time to work on the canvas before drying. I then take over with a scraping process utilizing a variety of tools. Nothing is planned except, perhaps the choice of colors.

One of your exhibitions was described as lyrical abstraction, but it also seems to me that there might be references to other schools of abstract painting as well. If you look at the history of abstract painting, are there particular movements that especially resonate with you?

I find that my work can have a combination of one or more of five movements: Figurative Abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, perhaps a touch of Cubism, with a strong emphasis on Surrealism. And yes, I do tend heavily towards Lyrical Abstraction.

When looking at your work, I thought of the idea that abstraction in painting has something in common with music: the idea of pure form. I felt there was a kind of vibrant musical energy there. Is that musical sense a valid way of looking at the painting?

Absolutely! An energy takes over me as if I was listening to a melody. The notes high or low sometimes fast, sometimes slower, delicately and daintily I scrape away. My hand dances with the rhythm.

To take a different approach, especially if I look at the paintings from 2013-2016, I get a sense of the connection between drawing or writing and the unconscious mind, that was important in the transition from Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism. The sense that even if an artist isn’t making rational, recognizable shapes, that there is still a connection to the artist’s deep unconscious. Is that a valid interpretation of those works?

Yes, of course! I never have a plan when I paint or scrape. As I work and remove the shapes and structure (if any) begin to reveal themselves to me. Sometimes it takes me to complete the work and even for some time to pass for me to realize what the work might represent or symbolize from my own subconscious. Often, I don’t have a title until I actually do realize it’s meaning.