JOSHUA TREE, CALIFORNIA
GUARDIANS: THE MAGNIFICENT 17
NEW PAINTINGS 2025
ARTIST STATEMENT:
The Guardians Series
MEDIA
Oil paint, Acrylic, and Oil Paint Stick on Unstretched Canvas
(intended to be float mounted and framed)
In recent years, I’ve felt increasingly compelled to paint archetypal paintings of women as the strong, capable, multifaceted beings that we are. This new series grew from that impulse — and from the same deep current that shaped my Prayer Paintings in 2018, when I also painted as a way to conjure divine assistance to thwart would-be oppressors and authoritarians.
The first guardian to arrive was Esmerelda. I painted her with qualities I hoped to summon in myself: strength, courage, grounded presence, calm confidence. Someone who stands tall and faces what’s coming with depth, integrity, skillfulness. She felt like a presence — not just a painting — and I wanted more of her in the studio.
Next came Rose, then Stella. I felt enlivened by the portraits. And steadier, less alone. I thought: I’ll paint seven, like Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven. This will be my team — we’ll face these days together.
But they kept coming. I didn't know who would appear next — I’d begin a painting, and someone would arrive. I welcomed them. In the end, I created (or channeled?) seventeen of these guardians.
In this series, my expressive impasto brushwork shows up in the bright colors of the faces and the vivid backgrounds — but much of the gestural energy comes through a different medium: painterly drawing with oil paint stick. I’ve loved exploring how bold, confident linework plays against washes of underpainting, creating dynamic contrast and movement. I found myself especially drawn to the shadows cast by a hat across a face — a motif I returned to again and again.
I also painted some boots and cattle because it felt good. Enjoy!