Painting is a creative form of meditation that quiets my mind, a place where chatter and din cease, and clarity enters.
The first time I picked up a paint brush, other than home maintenance, was in the mid 90s. A friend gave me a magazine photo of an early Kandinsky titled, The Blue Mountain (Der Blaue Berg). I decided I would try to reproduce it. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as they say. I gathered up a canvas, paints, and brushes and commenced. Time completely stopped. I painted well into the wee morning hours. Painting became a meditative process for me. That first painting still hangs in my home today.
My home is my studio and to walk into it is like being in an art gallery with paintings by many of my favorite artists. If I could, I’d live in the Art Institute of Chicago. One of the basic rules for my, art and design is, decorate a room around a piece of art or, for that matter, many pieces of art. Another guiding principle that I follow includes the Bauhaus aesthetic: form follows function.
In 2015, after the paint had barely dried from my last home renovation in Highland Park, Illinois, I left the profession of teaching and moved to Door County, Wisconsin. Of course, I tool up renovating yet another home, two apartments and an adjacent, small, vacation rental cottage. With that behind me for the most part, aside from the gardening and landscaping, I return once again to my studio to paint. For me, painting flows from a place of joy. My favorite art is modern, abstract; fluid art is a wonderful way to express that. Imagery painting makes my heart sing. The process is a creative meditation. A close friend says that I’m not happy unless there is sawdust in my hair… now, my creativity is evidenced by the paint under my fingernails.
Some of my favorite artists include:
- My mom, the late Geri Padzensky,
- James Howell,
- Harry Mintz,
- Iris Allen,
- Wassily Kandinsky,
- Curt Frankenstein,
- Heather Hancock,
- Gerhard Richter,
- Alexa Meade, and
- Terry Lundahl
