From the artist, Marie Rodriguez:

Nature, and her forces, are my biggest inspirations…the sun shining on water, leaves moving in a tree, a rush of wind, water dropping, sand in my toes, the gentle warmth and glow of a fire, the full moon.

I have no agenda with art, it all happens organically, usually beginning with an initial flood of bold color on the canvas, and then I am led by what I see or feel next.

Feeling gives rise to movement, color is chosen intuitively, the canvas is turned around, I step back and more feeling is evoked. I’ll see or feel my way in and continue adding color – with a brush, a palette knife, my hand. Sometimes thick and globby sometimes runny and drippy.

Then things often stall. Rather than engaging in battle with the canvas to finish the painting, I set it aside for a while. Just as nature and humans have opposing forces acting simultaneously - of healing and regeneration along with destruction and deterioration – many of my paintings go through ebbs and flows, periods of stagnation, some even have a ‘death’ process where the initial feeling is completely lost.

Sometimes weeks or months later, inspiration will strike and the canvas is seen with a new lens. Then the layering and feeling begins all over again, I’m now incorporating a new idea, feeling or awareness that ‘gelled’ during the down time.

Sometimes it’s hard to know when it’s complete, as in life we are always growing and changing. Other times I reach a sense of calm ‘done-ness’.

Sometimes my art inspires, energizes, and uplifts. Other times it is calming and soothing. What I really like is creating work that provokes pondering. I hope it provokes pondering in you.