Chicken Boy

Traveller

Mother

Mask Brain Surgeon

Sea Ghost

Acrylic paint on canvas

all works: 14 x 20 inches

“Being/Becoming” “If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.” ― Joseph Campbell

“Being/Becoming,” my most recent body of work that I’m sharing, has been done during this time of global pandemic and quarantine. It’s been an intense time for us all, and I’ve tried to deal with the everyday challenges by spending time in my studio painting, learning how to meditate, and trying to take stock of my life, my family, and my own path. With no place to go and with time to focus, I’ve been thinking a lot about journeys. With the outward journey (for most of us) pretty much on hold, the inward journey sits there, like a dog at the door, pleading with its eyes. As a mother, a sister, a daughter, teacher, a wife, I think about the different roles we play--in our own story and in the stories of the ones we love. In each of the paintings, I try to be very specific to the people in my life, the elements of an emotional journey, while also open to the possibilities of people finding something that touches them or just makes them smile. I am inspired by varied sources such as Egyptian myths, masks, sea shanties, nursery rhymes, tattoo art, early American naive painting, feminist theory, and world religions.

Susan Arena