Painting, to me, is more than brushing pigment onto paper. It's more than a beautiful picture (although that is what I strive for too). It's about trying to express an emotion with colors and shapes into something people can see and feel.

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way. . . Things I had no words for."
Georgia O'Keefe

When I was a girl I stood at the feet of a huge horse with kind, gentle eyes. I was awed and humbled at the incredible beauty and strength I saw in front of me. When I reached out my hand and felt the rush of my horse's warm breath in my palm, and watched her eyes close, lulled to sleep by my touch, I was moved to tears. My fingers itched to hold a pencil, to try and capture what I felt. I spent days and days following my horse around and drawing her from every angle.

When I became a mother and held my infant son for the first time, and brushed my finger next to his I felt him wrap his tiny hand around mine, clinging to me. My heart filled with a stronger and more powerful emotion than I had ever felt before. I needed a way to express that and every time I tried to explain it, or write it in a journal, I felt like I just couldn't do it. So I picked up a paintbrush again and by painting I could finally say what my heart needed to.

That was over ten years ago, and I've never stopped painting. Though the subject and media may change, my ultimate goal will always be striving to paint with feeling.