Harvest
Maple leaves, dry and curled,
eddy in a ghost dance,
speak to her with voices long gone…
father’s chant, mother’s croon,
lover’s ragged breath, whisper
a name she once owned
but has forgotten.
Bonfires carry their spirits to the sky
leave behind a nutbrown scent she tries to hold.óJeanie Tomanek, Genesee Moons
Artist’s Statement
Throughout my adult life I have always paintedósometimes only one painting a year. Several years ago I escaped corporate life. Since then I have concentrated on developing my style and voice in my work.
I paint to explore the significance of ideas, memories, events, feelings, dreams and images that seem to demand my closer attention. Some of the themes I investigate come first in poems I write. Literature, folktales and myths often inspire my exploration of the feminine archetype. My figures often bear the scars and imperfections, that, to me, characterize the struggle to become.
In my work I use oils, acrylic, pencil and thin glazes to create a multi-layered surface that may be scratched through, written on, or painted over to reveal and excavate the images that feel right for the work.
In reclaiming and reconstructing areas of the canvas, the process of painting becomes analogous to having a second chance at your life, this time a little closer to the heartÃs desire.