Art as Story

Illuminated Manuscripts are older works. My fascination with the genre led me to create my own in watercolor on large sheets of archival paper. My “Book of Turns” is a series of narrative paintings with decorative borders—some loaded with gold ink. The subject matter ranges from my interpretation of outside events to an excavation of my own psyche. A book may spark my interest as “Reward” from Eudora Welty’s “Delta Wedding” as shown in the introduction to this "Paintings" section. “Grant Him Immortality” is my response to the grim scene of an automobile fatality that I happened upon in the rain. I alternated fragments of the newspaper account with the Greek myth about a man who asked for mortality but was turned into a grasshopper. (Whoops!) “Loo-Wit” presents the news account of the Mt. Saint Helens eruption with the Northwest Native American legend of Loo-wit, Lady of Fire. “The Abyss”, "Moon Route", “Keeping Track” and “Coming to Meet” are autobiographical paintings. Their themes reflect tumultuous events in my life—a way to create order out of chaos.

 

Water media on 22 in. x 30 in. Arches Cold Press watercolor paper