Jeanne E. Gugino

Making art is a most satisfying way to experience this life. Yet, simply repeating the images I see before me is not always enough. When I first started to paint I gloried in nature and all its aspects: landscapes, people, animals, their homes, and their cultures. I was also drawn to the place from where we human beings began to be-where we go-what we do-how we touch the earth. The stories of ancient peoples, their spiritual beliefs, and their imagination also captured me and have never left. Fascinated by nature, history and culture I peel the layers and add to them. Watercolor is my primary medium. I think the spontaneous act of painting with watercolor is compelling. And now I have begun to explore monotypes and trace printing. These media also offer great spontaneity. Of course, spontaneity only comes after understanding the basics of the medium and its traditional place in art. How to creatively use these media to be contemporary is exciting. Artists influencing my work include JMW Turner, Helen Frankenthaler, Kaji Aso, Gerhard Richter, Joseph Orffeo and many others. I use different techniques and colorations to express where I am in the world at the moment I am creating. There are so many resources to ignite the imagination from the spawning of ocean corals to a rainbow moon, from the rumblings of thunder snow to the arrival of birdsong. A moment, a feeling, can be expressed. Art can become a poem, a poem without words.