My artist friends know the drill. When my studio door is propped open with a paint can, that’s my invitation to come in.  Maybe I’ve been holed up in my studio for hours, and the fumes from my oil paints are beginning to get to me. Or maybe  I’m heading down a precarious new path and need an empathic soul and a fresh set of eyes to commiserate over a glass of  wine. Whatever the reason, it’s one of the best things about having my studio separate from my home. Five mornings a  week I wake at dawn, slide into a T-shirt and sweatpants, don an old lab coat (my “smock”), and head downtown to my  private art sanctuary, closing the door behind me.

 
I know myself well and have come to realize I can’t paint with people around. It’s even worse when I’m pushing myself  down a new path into uncharted territory. So lately, my poor paint can has not seen the light of day. I’m totally  consumed with the new body of work I am in the throes of creating. I even wake in the middle of the night to sketch  imaginary paintings in my head. Not exactly normal, but I can’t help myself.

 
And my disposition? Lately, I’ve been a distracted, preoccupied recluse…not exactly good company. You see, I’m  finally coming out of the closet. No, not that closet. Until recently, I naively tried to compartmentalize my life into neat  little packages. Mornings and several full days at my studio, a few afternoons at my child psychology practice, both  enormous passions of mine. I guess I thought the art world would take me less seriously if they knew I had my PhD and a
small practice on the side.

 
But my art suffered, and I suffered, as I wasn’t allowing the passionate, psychological part of myself honest expression in  my work. I care deeply about children’s mental health, and while I still see a limited number of children in therapy, my  artistic voice is calling out. So, I am embarking upon a new body of work, still in progress, and thought I would offer a peek since my door hasn’t exactly been open, of late. This mixed media oil painting, still in progress, is a play on the  preeminent role of unconscious thought, and is part of a series of paintings on psychological fragmentation. I just  needed  to paint it and hope it stirs in some way. If you happen by my studio, curious to see my work in progress, feel  free to email, call… or knock, if you see my paint can in the door.