Velda Ishizaki
  • Home
    • New paintings
  • Steel Scupltures
    • Scraped Paintings
  • Abstract Thoughts
  • Colors of African Birds
    • Wall Installation
  • Pieces of Paint
  • Resume
  • Artist Statement
  • Contact

Artist Statement

The light bouncing off the ocean, shadows created by that light, and the colors surrounding me provide a palette for my abstract paintings.  Without even thinking about it, the horizon line always seems to find its way into my paintings.  The grittiness of life seeps in too, and it doesn't bother me that darkness arrives.  I welcome the light and the dark.  How else would we see anything?

Matching spools of thread of freshly cut fabric let me become aware of colors and their many hues as a child.  Then I knew that I could discern different shades easily.  And that I liked it.  And I still like it - discerning hues and saturation until the colors are just what I want.

Now I use Gamblin's Solvent-Free Gel as my medium.  It is safe for me and the environment and gives a juiciness and light shine to the paint.
​
Often past paintings become the undercoat to the fresh start.  The old shows through the new and enhances it.  The paint is scraped, sanded, and made juicy with the medium.  That juicy stuff gets moved around with a large putty knife.  New strokes and paint lines emerge which, strangely enough, become landscape like.