One of my earliest memories is of running out into the yard early one morning. I just couldn't stay inside long enough to finish dressing and was trying to pull my tee shirt on as I rushed out. The sheer joy of the fresh morning air, crisp blue skies, cool brown earth and kid goats to pet was too strong for my young heart to resist.
I am happy to say that I never have outgrown my love of all that is Nature. This connection with the earth and all that grows from it was nurtured even more after moving at age three from Jamaica where I was born, to England which was my Mother's home country. In my Grandparent's English garden I was encouraged to delight myself for many happy and creative hours. I made mud pies on the foot path, turned their ornamental coy pond into a frog nursery, helped individual earthworms become two, made fairy furniture from leaves, seeds, twigs etc., learned how to grow carrots and other vegetables and ate the luscious home-grown fruit like the rosy red raspberries straight from the bush.
That child like wonder at nature's cycles of life, the evolution of endless possibilities, limitless colors and textures and all else that it offers is as fresh and strong as the day I ran only half dressed into the Jamaican yard. Today I may not make mud pies (although I don't promise I never will), I use paint instead, but like then I am still exploring the feel of my medium, learning how it works, loving the textures I can create and putting my creations into people's paths for them to see.
Today I can often be found exploring the outdoors in State Parks, preserves and undeveloped areas of nature looking for my source materials. I record what I find with photographs and memory, and when back in the studio I morph with my computer to explore, contemplate, change, join, mix and interpret what I have found. When I have picked the cream of the crop I spend a long time visualizing the many possibilities of composition, size, focal point and many other details of how I want to paint a piece of art before I ever start squeezing the paint tubes. Finally the birthing of it can begin, and when it is done I share the gift. What started as an inner vision and inspiration behind my mind's eye has now become an external piece of art in front of yours.
