Cathy Woo's Alki Beach Walks: RIP

Memorials set up for the victims of last year's spectacular car crash off the Duwamish Head sea wall. That explains yesterday's bouquet of flowers as well.

Walking/Artist Statement

My paintings reflect a lifetime spent walking outdoors. "Walking in Nature" has always been my physical adventure. "Painting" has become my philosophical adventure. I Paint the patterns of Nature. I Walk with Artist Eyes. The combination of the two practices is the way I explore the world I live in. During my life, I have spent many years walking the woods and back roads of New England, the scrub hills and beaches of California, as well as the back country trails of the West Coast mountains. Here in urban Seattle, I get my daily dose of the outdoors during walks through the forests and along the shores of Puget Sound. When I walk, I absorb patterns, shapes, spaces, arrangements, values and colors. The patterns and shapes appearing in many of my paintings mimic those I have seen on my walks. It is not sufficient for me to be passively present in Nature. I have to walk it. Movement is essential to my well-being. Walking releases me from my linear, rational mind. It induces a sort of “creativity trance” which provides insights more enlightening than any I could come up with by way of stationary concentration and effort. Correspondingly, the practice of painting has induced insights about Nature. Solving the riddles of painting composition reveals to me the often invisible forces of rhythm, balance and pattern at work outdoors. My understanding that the forces operating in my paintings are the same as those at work in nature was the epiphany that led to my creative breakthrough.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

RIP

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