Betsy's revised Artist Statement

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."  Chinese proverb

 

    Flowers, my primary subject, stimulate me to search for fresh and original ways to transform my mystical connection with them into fine art, my song.  They are also a vehicle to explore my love of color and playfulness.  My early art studies with the founders of the Washington Color School, Kenneth Noland and Gene Davis opened my artistic sensibilities to an appreciation of technical experimentation and intellectual possibility.  Innately, I respond to the lyricism, painterliness and joy of color as mastered by Monet, Matisse and Bonnard.  The challenge to integrate the formalities of these opposing influences intrigues me.