Artist’s Statement

My interest in painting began in the early 1970’s when I discovered an aptitude for drawing and painting. A short course in oil painting at a local hobby store was the catalyst and I began reading and studying techniques, experimenting with various mediums and creating artwork on my own.

I moved from using oils to water based paints in the 80’s and still find the most satisfaction in the challenge of these mediums and have most recently worked mostly in acrylics.

In prior years my paintings were more realistic. I worked very hard to paint exactly what I saw…mostly from photos of flowers, landscapes, etc., and these works were very well accepted and appreciated, elevating me from being merely a painter to (in the eyes of the viewer) an “artist.”

Prior to moving to Texas in 2005 I lived in the San Francisco Bay area where I exhibited and sold my paintings primarily through local galleries. I have also created paintings on commission for a number of private parties.

More recently I have moved into another phase of my artistic development and am experimenting with more abstract, non-objective works and am enjoying the freedom of expression this genre provides. I rearrange, transpose, add and subtract artistic elements to produce images that are unique and fresh. It’s all about line, shape, color, texture, darks and lights. I’m having great fun working more in abstraction which allows me great freedom of expression and allows the viewer to freely interpret. Each new painting is a surprise and is often the result of many “happy accidents.” These abstracts, as they evolve, sometimes from little more than a few “blobs” of color actually become representations of something or someplace very real to me, but not necessarily seen by the casual viewer. I combine techniques and materials to produce an abstract image, the result of which is a work of art that is textured, painted, stained, glazed and sometimes re-painted. I plan to work in both realism and abstraction… as the spirit moves me!

This, then, is my art…


Pamela VanLaanen

Email: pamvanlaanen@aol.com