My heart is drawn to fantasy. Sometimes it is the only way I know to tell the truth. Truth is the ring I am reaching for in all my artistic endeavors. As a painter, I am drawn to exaggeration. I exaggerate the way light dances around on 3-dimensional objects. I love that exaggeration is in my tool chest. It makes doing art much easier, more fun. Today, I have been thinking about layers. In my work: acrylic, oil, paper, or words, I use layering consistently. If one layer doesn’t say what I want it to, I add more layers until the piece begins to tell the truth.
I come by my love for fantasy naturally. It is part of my temperament. It held me in its embrace during my earliest years. My childhood was quite lonely, but hardly unpleasant as I was guided into reading and making up stories and songs and creative play. It has been my friend during my adult years as well. When I was told I needed open-heart surgery to replace a congenitally flawed aortic valve a few years ago, my son brought me a set of fantasy books to read during the tense days of determining exactly what could be done for my heart. My doctors informed me of how grave my situation was. I had let it go far too long. There were scary moments, but I also had many engaging and enjoyable moments of reading. I was grateful for my son’s gift. Writing and sharing what I write is my most recent medium. I am seeing, in the patience and true stories, borrowed moments from my own reality. I am hoping these moments of fantasy can be of use to someone else as well. My writing will continue to hold a great deal of “story telling”. But, when I am moved to tell a little of the truth behind it, I won’t hold back. I promise.