I was teaching a workshop this past weekend and was talking with my students about recurring themes and imagery.   Sometimes we are drawn to certain images, concepts or words, and they show up over and over again in our work.   Personally, I think it is important to allow them to continue to show up, rather than think (with our monkey mind) "Oh not another house - (or figure, or flower, or heart), - how cliche!   Why do I paint the same things over and over again?!!" We do not need to consult Freud to understand why some imagery has personal significance for us, but knowing why our intuition or subconscious mind keeps bringing up certain concepts is not as important, to me, as being open to the idea that there is a reason why those concepts continue to do an encore performance, and just show up and clap enthusiastically when they do. For me, houses show up over and over again in my work.   Honestly, I never begin a painting thinki...

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” - Carl Sagan  I painted this series of nine paintings over a period of 8 weeks this summer.   At the end of July, I received the news from a very dear friend of mine that her business partner and close friend had been in a boating accident and was lost at sea.   That night I went into my studio in a state of shock.   The painting "I'm Here" was the result of that painting session.   As with all paintings borne from the intuitive process, this one seem to paint itself.   I had no plan or sketch that I was working from - in fact my mind just shut off and my hand took over while I observed.   I have never painted anything like "I'm Here", or the subsequent eight paintings that came afterward.   They are not painted in my usual style. ...