Art, for me, is part meditation, part emotional, and part conversational; a giving and for-giving practice. My work is unpredictable and fluctuates depending on the story that wants to be shown. Once I have a sense of what ‘that’ is, I pick a surface and leap in.
A painting may begin with layers, marks, and an understory that builds slowly until the overstory is clear, or it could come straight through from the onset in a flurry of activity that startles me when I stop. Women, flowers, animals, and whirling dervishes show up in my work often, and I enjoy exploring current affairs through art as a visual commentary on our times.
Being a multi-media artist, I create on gallery wrap canvas, cradled wood, wood discs, yupo, or paper working with acrylics, watercolour pastels, collage elements, tissue paper, cyanotype, and alcohol inks.
My love of plants guides me to shape portraits with flowers and leaves that I photograph, turning the digital images into greeting cards or giclee prints matted and framed. I also bring to art my practice of herbalism by beginning every painting with a wash of flower essences that I craft on new and full moons . . . why you may wonder? While this is not visible to the eye, I believe it is visible to the “I” within each of us, felt and sensed rather than seen, adding a little something not only to my work but also giving that little something to you in reception.
I do accept commissions and enjoy collaborating on art; contact me to begin a conversation.
Mariam Todd 