I think I first knew I was a creative person when I first knew I was a person. I never tried to be creative. I didn’t always see it as a good thing. The creative kids are the kind of annoying kids. The kids hunched over their assignments… those kids who understood the assignment… got annoyed at the goofy kid. And the teacher who assigned the work did not have patience for someone with a completely different learning style! I was more work for them. I was a behavior problem. Best to remove me from the area until I learned my lesson. And that is how I learned nothing. From them. What I did learn was how to escape. How to give up. How to compensate. That’s where creativity comes in.

Inspiration comes from almost everywhere. Latent memories surface after being dormant for a lifetime. They present themselves and I examine how a comment from my kindergarten teacher played a part in shaping who I am today.

I think flowers are pretty, but I’m not inspired by them.

I paint in acrylics because they are opaque, they dry quickly and they are not too expensive.

If I struggle with an idea, I just don’t do it. The images are lined up in my arm, waiting to be extruded… funneled out my fingers (my arm, as I have said, is the GI tract of my brain).

My biggest obstacle to creativity is expectation. I just want to do my thing. I don’t want to transcribe your idea of a good picture. I tried that. My painting didn’t look like what my friend had in his mind. Imagine that. I hated it and he hated it.

So I don’t really do commissions.

When I am creating something, I feel like a kitten playing. I’m mesmerized by the colorful thing, and I don’t notice that I knocked your cup over or pushed the pen onto the floor.

That’s not true. My kitten doesn’t think, he just acts. Everything is a toy to him. I’m thinking the whole time I paint. I’m not necessarily thinking about painting, though.

When I paint, I feel relaxed. Free. I feel like myself.

Not that I always like what I produce. If I don’t like it, I paint over it.

While I hope people like my paintings, I really want to be remembered for being generous, open, and for helping you see, accept, express and love your own soul.