I am a retired marketing communications professional who relocated here 10 years ago from Cherry Hill, NJ. Self- taught I have been painting more regularly since my retirement. In 2022 I completed a year as an active member artist at the Asheville Gallery Of Art. Simply put I paint because I’m drawn to it. But it is the experience of both painting itself and seeing other’s paintings that pushes me to pursue art. A visit to any museum or gallery, no matter how large or small, is to bear witness to this. I have over the years had the opportunity to stand in front of some truly great works and be completely overwhelmed. And to stand in front of many others that at the very least were stimulating in ways I wouldn't have expected. But what they all have in common is that although a painting is a static object it is also a document of every minute an artist spent creating it. Every decision that was made is there in some form to be seen, the colors, brush marks, forms, values, ideas. It’s in this shared experience, to be there with the artist, through the art… although separated by time and space, that elevates and enriches our lives in very special ways.