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I'm not sure if this is a common theme amongst artists, but the majority of the time, I can firmly state that I vacillate on a scale of "I hate it" to "I don't hate it".
Read MoreGrowing up in close proximity to NYC -- yep, you can call me a "bridge-and-tunnel-girl" -- I used to go on independent jaunts into the city. Where did I go? Museums, of course. I would get lost for hours inside exhibits, sometimes sketching, other times writing.
How can we look at the discarded things around us and learn to look at it differently? What have you tossed from your life that could be recycled into something else?
... What other detritus of our lives have we cast off without seeing its beauty and value?
I sold Autumn. Of all the paintings I've created, this is one that's nearest and dearest to my heart. I painted this in the fall of 2009, after I'd been living in Seattle for a few years. Although I'd acclimated quickly to the quirks of the weather in the PNW, I still missed the typical Northeast seasons that I was accustomed to. Autumn is my favorite season...
The predominant manner in which I coped with all of these emotions was immersion in art...
... I sketched and painted, and this is the period when I first fell in love with van Gogh, de Kooning, and Pollock. Abstract art was a way for me to place my rawness front and center, without words, without fear of retribution. I didn't need to explain anything; the canvas did it for me. I didn't have to use reason or rational thought, because in creating I found a solution to my doubts.