The Orange County Artists Guild is a non-profit organization seeking to increase the visibility and recognition of area artists and crafts people.

Since I began teaching abstract painting and collage a few years ago (through a joint appointment with the Durham Arts Council and OLLI program at Duke) I have looked for ways to both stretch myself and give my students some new ways of starting their paintings. Last year, dealing with the trauma of a flooded and destroyed art studio, I also needed something more intuitive and less planned, since my ability to concentrate was often compromised by fatigue and distress. I began paintings by coating thick watercolor paper with a coat of gesso and then a coat of matte medium...…

One of the ways that I like to paint is to simply allow my hand to create colorful shapes in a seemingly random pattern, until a coherent painting forms and begins to look ‘finished’. This can be done using any 2D or 3D medium. I often listen to music that matches whatever mood I’m in when I start to paint. I then quite simply ‘let the music take me where my heart wants to go’ (from Cat Stevens circa 1975). The first piece is a 13x17inch liquid acrylic that was actually started by playfully stamping a color soaked sponge through…