ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
“If I can see it, I can paint it.”
I used to think that in order to paint the beauty around us, one
would need to study how to draw every single subject - which would be an overwhelming
task. Over the years, I learned that everything we see already has in it all the
information needed to draw or paint it. The key is to truly “see” your subject,
observe how the light falls on it, and then, express this light pattern with a visual
language using paint. In order to encourage myself to remember to do this, I say in my head while I paint, “If I can see it, I can paint
it”. This phrase empowers me to focus on seeing how the light patterns and colors fall on a subject that I wish to depict, and then I can express the world of light and colors around me with a
brush. The goal I strive for is to share our world's splendor, and hopefully, one day, inspire others to see the world in a
new light.
"Wisdom Wears High Heels"
With her freshly coiffed bee-hive bouffant hairdo and pointy-toed, steel tipped, high heels clicking down South Street in New Providence, New Jersey, I walked with my mother to the first day of Sunday school at the Our Lady of the Peace Church. She gently held my hand. In uncomfortable, black patent-leathered Mary Janes, and stiff white gloves, I wondered, “why must I go to school to learn about God?” I asked my mom, “Where is God?” She stopped and said, “God is everywhere. He made everything too.” This astounded me. I pointed to a big red stop sign in front of us, and asked, “Is God right there in the sign? Did he make that?” She said, “Yes.” Baffled, I pointed my five year old finger to my favorite flower, a purple crocus, next to the sidewalk. I asked, “Is God in there too...did he make that too?” She glanced at it and said, “yes”. I felt defiant. I wanted to prove how ridiculous this was. Then, I pointed to the sky; then a big, golden, Buick driving by; then to her. “Is God there too?” She calmly looked at everything and replied, “yes”. “But how?” I asked. She smiled and said, “…because God is everywhere ...all the time”. Then, we continued clicking down the street to church in our fancy shoes ...and I continued to wonder. Four years later, she passed away, but I always remember her words.
Many years after that, I posted on Facebook an oil painting entitled, “Hard-boiled Lemon & Egg Squeezer” that I hung in an art exhibit, An old friend from art school commented under my artwork. He was an excellent artist, whose paintings I admire, at the Art Students League of New York. “When did you get good?” he joked. I chuckled out loud at his back-handed compliment (or insult, I wasn’t sure which), and realized that, apparently, he thought my art used to not be good...and, I seriously realized that it still might not be. However, I never cared about that, but instead, chose to persevere to paint regardless of how bad it may be, because bad painting is better than no painting. I hoped to someday overcome barriers to improve my artwork.
Since I view art as a visual language, I continued to paint simply because I wanted to learn to communicate better to people through painting. I wanted to “talk” with paint so it wouldn’t matter what country one may be from, or what verbal language one may speak. I wanted to share the beauty of the world surrounding me, despite hard times, to others who need to see beauty too, (or who need to view life in a different way), and to open their eyes to a new point of view by seeing art. I hoped to reach out to tell others through the language of paint, “never give up, never lose hope, look up, open your mind, observe the world, and truly see the truth of beauty that is always present.” I did all this because I wanted to share what I finally learned from my mom many years earlier…. that God is beauty, and beauty is love...no matter what, I continuously see, like we all can, that these three things, love, beauty, and God constantly surround us. In addition, I’m happy to report that one doesn’t need a bouffant beehive hairdo, nor steel-tipped stilettos, to realize this. Furthermore, I discovered on the way to Sunday school long ago, that wisdom comes to us from many unexpected sources. Henceforth, in my case, I learned early in life that wisdom can wisely rock a pair of high heels.