Painting is an exploration. For me, the elements of a composition — color, line, and mass –create a vocabulary of personal symbols. These symbols suggest relationships involving people and the natural world. To my mind, painting is a rich and meditative process, which reveals many subtleties: emotional cool or warm tones, rhythmic movement of shapes, foreground/ background shifts of focus, the energy and space between forms. I have a background in representational as well as abstract painting, and favor using watercolor and gouache on paper.
After a long day of teaching children how to write poetry (my “day job”), it is wonderful to pick up a paintbrush and express things non-verbally. This is a spiritual and internal practice. Often the act of painting calls up a poem, or the process may be reversed. In my case, the two art forms seem to mesh. Sometimes the natural world is a reference point and at other times, relationships are an inspiration. In poetry, meaning is conveyed through rhythm, phrasing, symbols, metaphors, and many other aspects . I hope my paintings reflect such elements as well.
Cathleen Cohen 