Artist Statement

Love and loss are the same pigment in my work — mixed on the palette long before they ever reach the canvas.  I paint translucent layers because that's how they live in me: one resting on top of the other, sometimes hidden, sometimes breaking through.

My paintings are abstract works in acrylic, oil and mixed media exploring grief, loss and belonging. My evolution from representational to abstract mirrors a deeply personal turning point.  In exploring the quiet spaces of my grief, I found myself intuitively pulled away from the visible, external world and anchored into my internal landscape. Making hand-painted papers — torn, glued, and stapled, I layer my messy grief.  Smushing colors upon colors, drawing in lines, letting marks and memories settle beneath the surface, often digging back into them, softening some, letting others glow through. Those contrasts — buried and revealed, quiet interiors and open landscapes — are where my feelings live. Woven through the layers are the people I've lost; painting keeps me close to them.

I've spent decades in my clinical private practice helping people when it feels unbearable find their strength underneath. I've been told, more than once, that I could listen to anyone feeling down and make them feel like gold. I've turned this same gift into what I do when I paint — the canvas has become my healing place, where I give myself permission to let out all of my feelings. I've returned to my love of art, and I'm deeply passionate about it. In it, I've found my gold — inspiration, discovery, a way forward. My hope is that this work helps others heal as much as it heals me.

Contact Gail

p: 215-343-3923
c: 267-261-5242