Me on March 23, reflection in the mirror of my new room. I haven’t posted in awhile. My life dramatically changed in early March. I was offered a great live in job as a Senior Caregiver in my hometown  of Winston Salem and I jumped at the chance. Now, I can afford a new website: juabstracts.com (check back soon, in construction) At the same tim my life improved, the world descended into illness and crisis with the Coronavirus. I’ve prayed fervently those close to me don’t get it. I am a Caregiver for a 91 old man, so you can imagine at times I am scared he will get it. My life hangs in th ..read more

This painting was done on Halloween night I do believe, how fitting. Except I did not celebrate heathen and commercialized trick or treating, I was too busy mourning several things. How much more are we gonna take How many nights do we have to lie awake How many tears are we gonna cry We can wish until the well runs dry-Only Love-Jordan Smith At the time, I was knee deep in K-Pop. One of the bands I liked: Monsta X, the main singer Wonho left the group. I know it sounds laughable, some of you might be in the floor right now that a grown woman cared about a K-Pop group. I liked the ..read more

In my weary mess this Winter, I make myself get up, and take some photos with my favorite piece from last year. Hair is uncolored, not styled, and yet I am real and raw, and personal. This is who we are from day to day in our lives. Not neatly put together, but just hanging on sometimes. Life Lines is a small painting, only 11×14, but it is anything but simple. It was done last Spring, when I was wondering about myself, and noticed that as I painted more things came to mind about my own character. I wanted to get into Geometric art, many know that who read my blog, and also know that I cannot ..read more

kr Well I made an effort, and grabbed my 38″ wood board and painted what came to me. I chose a darker blue and yellow, always drawn to these colors because it is a positive and a negative. As I listened to Ruelle’s Find You, and The Other Side, I painted my emotions. There is always an angst, a heartfelt expression, a loss, like I am painting a form of sadness that is trying to break free and be complete and happy. It is like I am painting through my emotions. So here it is: If I try and crop the photo it comes out blurry, so I guess we are getting the full mess of my room and the area in wh ..read more

I began to paint again, even though I could barely hold the brush, but knowing exactly what I wanted to paint, I began three more large canvases… of large wheat fields under cloudy skies, and it did not take a great deal to express sadness and loneliness… I believe these paintings say what words cannot. Vincent Van Gogh No sense going into things too much. It is odd that most Artists are very sensitive and have deep lives and thoughts. 2019 has been a real punch-in-the-face year. More things have happened than I can keep up with. My Father died, I returned shakily to my religion, and strugg ..read more

  I have had an emotional few weeks. In 2015, I became a follower of God. I use that term because the word: “Christian” is a horrid stereotype, and I never did like the word much myself.  Anyway, I was away from God for the past two years, and just recently went back to it. The only reason I bring this up on my art blog is not because I am trying to upset anyone, or convert, but because I realized some things about Art, that I wanted to share, and this is my art blog. I just read a book my neighbor gave me: The Triumph of American Painting/ The History of Abstract Expressionism ..read more

  I am going through a tough time emotionally. Trying to learn piano, trying to find time to paint, plus feeling as if I have to be perfect in every single thing in my life. Society teaches us to be perfect no matter what, and if you are not, then you will be bitched at. Never mind the affect it has on your health, your well being or anything else for that matter, we all must be neatly put together in life, and give off the persona of excellence. That is what we see in our social media feeds. Perfect bodies, perfect lives, people trying to portray that image because it is what is expecte ..read more

  This last Spring, I discovered the song: Girl, by SYML. I sat in my yard at sunset, and heard this song a lot. One day, I was walking around, and felt like sinking to my knees crying because it just hit me hard. Girl Perfectly her Broken and hurt…. Shake off the night and don’t hide your face The sun lights the world with a single flame I want you to see this…. I would have to reveal layers of pain and hurt to get the average person who reads this blog to understand, and I can’t say that here. An Artist wants to reveal, wants to hide at the same time. I have said it before ..read more

On Instagram, there is a hashtag I follow called: Post Minimalism. I end up every day, about eighty percent of the time liking all the work, so I decided to look up the term. I feel stupid, but I had never heard of that phrase before. Turns out it is a rebellion against minimalism in the early seventies. New Artists came up with new pieces that dealt with irregular forms of expression. So, I started thinking about this, and realized…some of my work might fall in that category, and if not, I am definitely interested in the future. This piece of mine I hold dear to my heart: Life Lines&nbs ..read more

I regularly watch: Rafi was Here, on Youtube. He helps Artists understand themselves, and the business side of things. His latest video on Art Collectors, and where to find them, got to me.  Collectors can be anyone. They do not have to be rich, or have a status, or stereotype. What stuck out the most, was in a casual sentence he said: “Maybe they fall in love with you as a person, and decide to buy your work..” . Whoa, what?  I started thinking right then, how much Rafi got to me on a very personal level. I really liked him a lot as a person. Often, I find myself saying: “If ..read more