In this series I have posed a challenge to myself to combine my poems with painting. I am a writer as well as a painter and have long kept a journal of my feelings, discoveries, insights, frustrations. Pages from the journals have been collaged onto the painting surfaces as a substrate and foundation for the imagery to follow. These journal pages have provided an emotional springboard to riff off as I paint, providing emotional energy to fuel the process.
The poems featured in several of these paintings are mostly about relationships: the bitterness, disappointment, alienation, comfort, anger and occasional joy to be had there. As an artist with these two distinct streams of creativity I’ve long sought to find ways to merge the two into an art object that is more than illustration. Mostly, that goal has proven to be surprisingly challenging, and I intend to continue working at it. That said, they are still, I believe, interesting for the effort.
