Members’ Gallery: March 2014

Artist's Statement—A year or so ago, you might say I fell down the rabbit hole. Previously, I had painted still-lifes of rabbits in a Matisse mode. Then I turned to painting large shore birds in a similar style. Still restless, I recalled my photos of rabbits in the wild. Opting for a more playful approach, I reimagined them alive in their natural habitat and painted away.

My canvas showed a totally new approach. Gone were my usual bright colors. My palette was replaced with subdued, experimental colors that captured the essence of the living rabbit. I started using thin and thick washes that began and ended inside and outside the rabbit. In this series I experimented with leaving some of the canvas white. I let the paint drip and run on the canvas, searching for the spirit of the animal. Taking from the photograph what I needed, I painted my interpretation of the animal with loose, bold paint strokes. The whole time I was painting, I was so involved in the process that I was unaware of how I was painting. I was just having fun.

When I looked at the finished work, I was very excited about what I had done and knew that I had found my new way of painting and my next series. I paint what I am passionate about; something inside me has to say, "I want to paint that!" I have always desired to color outside the lines. Falling down the rabbit hole has let me do just that.