I am an artist working in Petaluma California. My work is mixed media/collage using acrylics and source materials from magazines and personal photos.

A few years ago, I restarted my approach to painting. I was no longer going into the studio with the pressure to Make a Painting. I was there to explore and experiment without the focus of outcome. It became a practice of acceptance and openness (and joy).

It was exciting to see familiar themes emerge even as I cultivated a way of working that was intentionally random. The idea of contrasts and how they interact has always been important to me. (All the usual suspects: hard/soft, lightness/darkness, feminine/masculine, revealing/obscuring.) However, what came into focus in these paintings was how each of these contrasting ideas relate to the theme of control vs freedom.

I also find this contrast in my process. I will often remove control by closing my eyes while I tear shapes for collage or selecting images randomly. Encouraging this spontaneity and then becoming aware of how I respond on the canvas is an exciting dynamic of control vs freedom.

Learning to trust my creative self has been a long process. My work at this moment is the visual result of that trust and acceptance. I hope that the colors and shapes and compositions carry the reverberation of my liberation.