River Lady

I was listening to Joni Mitchell almost exclusively when I painted this. I had just moved to California and sharing a room with one of my best good pals, Addie. I left wet paint and supplies out on the kitchen table and our bedroom floor every night and forced her to be part of the painting process. All so a four foot naked lady could hang in our tiny shared space. She is probably an angel, come to think of it.

When I look back at this painting, I see Kernville, CA. The cold Kern River and Lake Isabella where I felt free and feminine. When I look at this painting I exhale. Something about that place was magnetic. I couldn’t stop spending weekends there and dreaming about it from behind my computer screen. I would get home from work and paint every night to try to bring a piece of it to the busy city.

In the end, the river won. It grabbed me up and freed me from my job in ENgiNeEriNG and that fills my entirety with gratitude.