"My art is a visceral expression of irreverent passion, the embodiment of freedom, and a yearning to gift self-love.  With each creation, I celebrate women and the courage that flickers within us.  Contrary to societal conditioning, I believe the feminine form grows more uniquely beautiful as it is decorated by life’s journey. Each painting is a celebration of what we have endured, freeing us to embrace our beauty as rare and powerful.

 

Being an artist is all I have ever known. My art has consistently transformed in tandem with my journey through despair, rage, growth, bliss, and unchartered freedom. My deepest desire is that my art ignites a sense of strength and confidence in who we are as women. I want it to be a limitless source of energy that generates untamed joy."

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Penny's latest series is a study of the fragility of the female form as well as a reflection on our self-acceptance as we age. She is motivated by the belief that we can embrace the change in our bodies no matter the form- small, large, young, old, healthy, frail, strong, weak- while allowing our eternal essence to shine through. Penny hopes to cast aside the superficial images of beauty portrayed by our culture and celebrate the precious, ephemeral moments of life.

​Ephemeral Figures:

Working with as many as 30 photographic prints at a time, Penny allows rainwater to fall gently onto each one, drop by drop. As the water spreads across the porous paper, it “paints” ethereal bursts and watercolor-like waves across the translucent figure. Some of the photographs she immerses in rain streaming from her tin roof or bathes them in fresh puddles until the ink surges, blending skin-tone pigments with vibrant indigo background hues. At various moments throughout the process, she photographs each rain-morphed print as it reaches its aesthetic peak: perhaps before it fades in the sun, or after several water droplets have re-drawn the figurative image, or just as the print is placed into a fresh puddle —moments before the gossamer image disappears or disintegrates. Each image is unique and original, and each is a fleeting figure caught in the tension between beauty and brevity, expressed in layered moments of color, water, and time.

Satori:

Satori is defined as a moment of sudden enlightenment and a state of consciousness representing the spiritual goal of Zen Buddhism. This state is experienced as a sudden inexpressible feeling of inner understanding or, “Seeing into one’s true nature.” Penny knows that her trek from grief, loss, and fear to a forever state of healing and emerging is not unique. "Gratefully, moments of Satori have returned as I create in the sacred space of NOW. My ultimate dream is that my art gives each viewer a vivid realization of their rare beauty and an unchartered sense of freedom.”

Come Undone:
While creating an abstract "Selfscape" work I was moved to add cadmium orange and red tones, then tip the piece allowing the hues to intermingle. I was hypnotized by the interaction of marks and color and attempted to maintain the feeling of movement, even within the stagnant piece.
I was overcome with a vision of our vast universe, vibrating with energy. After applying amber shellac, setting the entire piece afire, the amber cell-like marks that remained felt reminiscent of the internal intricacies of the human body as well as celestial bodies.
Remembering a tune by The Guess Who, called "Come Undun", I was moved to title the series as an ode to the song and to my unconventional process of following consciousness, not rules.  I continue to create reflections of the mystical universe and miraculous inner workings of the human body as a part of this series.