She Thinks In Color

 In my world of art I do a lot of things.  I paint, carve and sculpt, assemble collages from scraps of my paintings, work with mixed media, and time permitting, I like to build memory books for my family. So I am never really surprised when people come into my studio, look around and say, "Is this all you? You do so many things," with a somewhat quizzical look.

Does it all look like me, I ask?  They look again.  Well...yes. But, but there are paintings and the gourds and pots and....

And all that is true.  So what is the unifying principle?  What is it that drives my work?  By what am I compelled?

Color.  All surfaces, all materials, all combinations of media are there for just one purpose - to be brought to life in living, breathing, passionate, subtle, intense, complex color. I dream in color, and am aware of color as I breath, move, talk, eat, think.  Pulsating sunsets come on the heels of days full of colors as simple as creamy white milk on silver dusted blueberries, the many hues of ochre and grey walking across the parking lot, the shades of lemon and grapefruit yellows in the glass cylinder on the desk at the show.  Then I am mesmerized by the complexity of transparent hues that create the moving sea or air that I find in Adolfo's work.  And on it goes all day long, until I head for home while the sun turns the desert air into streams and rivers of striated cadmiums, laced in violets, tinges of lime and all there to burn into my memory for resurrection in my dreams.

So, the next time you look into an artist's studio and see a variety of medium or technique or color, ask yourself what is the thing that unifies the work?  Is it the palette, as with my work, or is it something else? Is it subject matter - landscape interpreted in many styles, perhaps, or animals in paintings and sculptures, or abstracts in many colors and materials held together by the shapes used, or is it line that is the common denominator?  So many possibilities.  Just like with color.

So much experimentation to do.  So little time.  Back to work....See you soon!