Spontaneity and expression. Brushwork meets this criteria. I have painted all my life in many different mediums. Painting is a place that is home, another world, a philosophical platform, a fairy circle, an act of passion or awe, a place to rest hurt, a place to be miraculously happy.

And really, this is just the beginning, because painting is also a conduit, a linkage between one and another. You can give me a glimpse of yourself and I will paint that bit of you that I have seen.

Even as a kid, the life and movement of the impressionists held great interest for me and curiously so did Chinese Art. As a young person growing up in the consciousness/awareness/music scene Bay Area of California, the search for understanding the philosophical aspects of living became a permanent mutation of being. How to be here now-very prominent factor of life. So, how to paint like this, how to paint now. And that has been the premise of my artistic history and career. Resolution came in the form of Asian Style Brush Painting.

I am very lucky to have T. Y. Pang as my teacher of Chinese art, philosophy, and tai chi for the past ten years. Mr. Pang introduced me to rice paper and the bamboo brush. Even after painting for many years, in the beginning, my calligraphy characters, if equated with ink blot interpretations, were in my mind the act of a truly deranged person.

In preparation for this kind of painting, my teacher had me painting on paper towels until the sight of rice paper became a great gift. The absorbency of rice paper is similar to paper towels because the effect is immediacy of the act of brush to paper. The way to now. The way to absolute truth because the gathering action of the paper records every breath, every tremor of the hand and mind, every result of how life affects the posture, the first impression, the inner expression.

Anyway, this is what I do. It is a practice, alive and always present. I have to walk on the beach every day because I am currently studying the anatomy of waves and the anatomy of birds in flight. I will be painting beach scenes for a while because I have recently moved from the Mt. Baker foothills to Birch Bay. This is certainly a great way to work.

Not bad at all.

Carole Chaplin 2005