negativespace

 Hindsight is 2020 - Thoughts on the Year

2020 has certainly been a strange year.  I retired from teaching public school art at the end of the 2018/2019 school year with the goal of making art full time.  I started renting a lovely studio above a wine bar in York, PA.  

I thought I could get a few part-time teaching gigs to help me pay my rent.  I did, but they were not quite what I expected.  I loved the classes I was teaching, but after February, classes cancelled and we went virtual. 

I did have some successes in 2020.  I won an Award of Excellence for Healing Arts
from Manhattan Arts International in February.  I also won Best of Show in the Yorkfest Adult Juried Exhibition over the summer. The painting that won is Living Forest.  It is a painting of what was my neighbor's creek in the woods.  This is 30"x30" oil painting on canvas.  My painting style has changed over the years.  I earned my MFA in visual arts in 2017.  That experienced helped me to think of making art in a different way.  I am no longer trying to "copy" nature.  I am experiencing nature through the process.  

Most of the paintings I will be showing were created in the studio using photos that I took while walking through the woods.  We purchased our neighbor's 24 acre wooded property in December.  It is a magical place.  I also hike at the state park which is five minutes from my home with my dog and my husband.  He also retired this year.  Nature continues to inspire me.