I started my painting career as a non-objective painter. My student and graduate school days were all about the process of laying paint down in an orderly way. While living in Kalamazoo, Michigan, my colors were muted and as layered as the weather. After moving to Bluffton, South Carolina, where the sky was clear and the shadows were strong, the bright colors of the Lowcountry filtered in and took hold. But soon, that wasn’t enough, and my colored patterns needed a narrative. Similarly to someone telling a story, a good protagonist and an antagonist were needed. A personal narrative was developed then that follows me even now, to more recent works. Now, my narratives have evolved to the conflict (and cooperation) of non-objective imagery and objective imagery. I met a veteran New York painter last summer. He was admiring my work and gave me a strange compliment: “I love the way you paint, but what you are doing really disturbs me.” He was a dyed-in-the-wool non-objective image-maker. What disturbed him was I was crossing boundaries he couldn’t reconcile. I went away from the encounter pleased that he liked my technique, and pleased that I had disturbed him on conceptual levels. My work will be @ The Pink Dog Creative Gallery, 348 Depot St, Asheville, NC, June 2 through July 9. The opening celebration for “Signs of Life” is June 2 @ 6PM. Please join me. Visit Mountain Tea Studios online at  http://mountainteastudios.com/about-mountain-tea-studios/.