MRIs of Cancer

Words. Streams of consciousness washing in, flowing out, sanding off. Soft. Soft like skin. Layer after layer. Putting on color, only to remove it, finding the light within.

Subtraction is my reason for addition.

The process, it pulls me in.

In the decade after graduating and not creating, life brought me to a lot of difficult and unexpected places. Art allowed me to find myself and connect with the universe. To explore the painful moments, and rediscover the beautiful ones. This series allows me to see that they are all interconnected. I explore the balance of light and darkness by sanding away at my paintings. Our joy is already within us, we just need to delicately remove the excess to find the light.

I stream of consciousness journal on layers of gesso, sanding between each one to create a surface that is soft and strong before painting. Beginning with MRIs of cancer as my inspiration and source, the beauty and terror live together. I choose colors while touching my paintings and sand to find the white gesso beneath and a hint of graphite writing from the prep glowing beneath. While creating, I see or feel where to go next, never knowing if it’s in my mind or the universe guiding my next move. I follow it nonetheless.

The duality and balance of light and dark and the necessary tension between the two keep me adding and subtracting.