It feels like I have been searching for space all my life.
 
My personal space bubble, my comfort zone is probably different than yours. I don’t like folks who creep up to me in lines as if getting closer to me makes the line move faster. Oh, that gets my hackles up so be warned, you might find my elbow protruding into our shared space.
 
 I also have trouble finding space in conversations. I can interrupt you, as I am so eager to add my comments. Or I wait for an opening and I just can’t find it. So, there may be minor sulking, as I don’t get to tell you my words.
 
 Like in jump rope, if you don’t get your rhythm right, you can’t jump in. I often feel tangled in conversation despite my strong force to connect with others.

Oval Opening, ©2017, Alicia R Peterson, acrylic on oval form, 16 x 20 inches.  
Photo: Peter Scheer

I crave solitude. I need solitude and if I don’t have enough solitude crankiness can set it. I know that solitude; space alone is one of my wells; how I fill my creative fires and how I find peace.
 
 So I guess I should not be surprised that my search for space has consumed my life as a painter.
 
 Recently during an impromptu critique of my paintings from an oh so seasoned painter and teacher, I was asked why I leave so much white space in my paintings.
 
 What artists usually do is to prime a canvas with a ground, a background… a neutral color or perhaps a strong color to contrast what will be the figure (what is the subject of the painting).
 
 In answering the query of filled and empty, I realized my work is about expansion.

Winter Circle, ©2017, Alicia R Peterson, acrylic on 12-inch circle form.  
Photo: Peter Scheer

How did I find space on canvas? In 2006 I started painting empty. I fell in love with the canvas itself being the ground and started right into the main event.
 
 What emerged were stark works of empty. I was entranced, and challenging myself, how empty can I paint and still create a compelling painting?
 
 I paint the power of less.

Circle of Life I and II, © 2017 Alicia R Peterson, acrylic on 10 and 12-inch circle forms. Photo: Peter Scheer

This search is visible in my studio practice. When I throw paint the process echoes my internal story. I am searching for space. So, of course, my lines extend off the canvas and beyond.
 
 In fact, I sling paint with such ferocity that anyone or anything in its path gets colorized…. this includes the walkway to my studio, all my painting clothes/shoes and most all of my studio surfaces.
 
 And just an FYI, the shoes and clothes of those who dare try to take pictures of me while I am painting have paint splatter. I am a martial artist so I have a grand arm.
 
 I create space on my canvas and I share it with you.

Fertile Crone, ©2017, Alicia R Peterson, acrylic on linen, 24 x 18 inches. 
Photo: Peter Scheer

I usually don’t put words about what I see and know in a painting. I wish you to find your own images within. This painting I could not help myself. It feels like me. I guess that makes me a fertile crone. Happy me to give birth to my paintings.