JANET HAMMOND

Artist's Statement

My earliest memories are of drawing pictures. My paintings are about my life experience - my everyday surroundings, people in my life, places I have been and things I have seen. They begin with an emotional reaction to the subject, usually brought on by some abstract quality such as shape, line, color or negative shapes. Light usually comes into play. I'm fascinated by the way light shapes form, the patterns of shadows and those incredible neutral tones within the shadows. I prefer working from life, but when that's not possible I paint from sketches, photos, memory and imagination. I rarely do preliminary color sketches beforehand or preparatory drawings, because, when I go into all of that my end result seems to lack spontaneity. The painting slowly evolves out of what looks like a mess as I feel my way into it and see what happens. The work dictates what it needs, and there is as much scraping off of paint as there is putting on. I try to stay true to what created my initial reaction to the subject, and I let the painting tell me when it is finished.