Artist's Statement

Painting as Diary

I am now in my seventh decade and have been painting for most of my life.

For me painting is as essential as eating and breathing and the goal has always been to explore what seems important at the time. In spite of wonderful support grants in the past I seem unable to produce consistent products that can be packaged and sold. With the exception of abstract images that are the result of my meditation practice, my focus has been the figure. In my family bodies were celebrated and admired. As a painter I have made works that reflect the amazing changes during my lifetime of attitudes towards the body . Issues of sexual identity, from shaved heads to gender transformation all form part of my work. But it is intimacy that is at the core of it all, and for this privilege I thank each and everyone of those who have posed for me over the years.