and then lived in the Bahamas for nearly 30 years,

                                                                               
                                                                  

and now I live in Oslo, Norway

My Rainbow Family

There were so many women who needed work and I thought that working with textiles would be wonderful.  Which it was!  We hand waxed a pattern onto white cotton or silk and then hand dyed it in brilliant colors.  It was then cut and sewn into a line of colorful resort wear which was sold throughout the Caribbean. 

The company still exists today and is known as the national fabric of the Bahamas.

and dried in the sunny breezes of the Bahamas

During these years I started hand painting on silk and other textiles.

Tahiti Paintings

In the 90's in partnership with another woman I completed a large commissioned work  for a resort in Tahiti

each 6 feet x 12 feet, 2 x 4 m

painted on textile, mounted as a part of the wall, so that they were transparent to the outside light

Preparing the full size sketch before starting the painting

Completed painting, still stretched on its painting frame

beginning a painting

and the completed painting

                                                   

I had a need to create a process which addresses who we are, as individuals, when we are 'in the light' and not only in our shadow stories which the age of psychology has drawn us to.  Many of us have embraced our difficult stories in order to understand ourselves. An important task. Yet, now, what is our story 'on the high side"? 

Women who have influenced me along the way:

Teacher and Mentor, M.C. Richards, painter, potter, poet, philosopher

The major artist who mentored me from the mid 80’s until her death in 1999 is the U.S. legend M.C. Richards, known  as a philosopher of creativity since the publication of her first book in the 1960’s, ”Centering, the Art of the Person”, and her founding of Black Mountain College, an experimental school for the arts, in the 70’s. I had the great privilege to live and work with her in her studio in California in the mid 90’s. Being with M.C. was demanding and fulfilling, both beyond imagining. Living with her for extended and intense periods of time perforce resulted in my coming face to face with my own sense of creativity, and is directly responsible for my developing the concept of ”Inner Portrait”.  All that M.C. and I shared, of laughter and of trial and of discovery, and of intense focus in the moment, remains one of my life’s great treasures.

Teacher and Mentor, Anne Armstrong, intuitive, transpersonal psychologist

Anne Armstrong was a marvel of a woman, with a mental acuity unlike anyone else.  Anne was a working intuitive and trans personal psychologist for more than 50 years. I have been her student and close friend for 25 years. Working and studying with Anne has opened many windows in me and enriched my understanding of myself, and of others. This has also influenced my process for ”Inner Portrait”, particularly the skill of active listening.

Teacher Ina Kozel, painter on textile

After her art school training in the US, Lithuanian born Ina Kozel then spent several years at the Kyoto College of Art in Japan, probably the foremost school in the world for painting on textiles.  I’ve always been keen on textiles, having founded my company for the purpose of hand printing and dyeing textiles. I spent three years as her apprentice, both in her studio in California and in our joint studio in the Bahamas. She and I established a studio together in order to do the large Tahiti commission.

Tobias School of Art and Art Therapy, London