“Ambiguity, mystery – the enticer, exciter of life – how to express it and the pulse and energy, inexpressible but felt in all nature. Is it a balance of positive and negative space evoking uncertainty? Colors of the same tonal value bouncing against each other? Such experiments form the core of my work.

I began flowing paint to a center to express love and it sprang back alive in branching veining patterns of myself and all of nature. On this I elaborate in my paintings.

With canvas horizontal I poured paint to a depressed center. Through experimentation and accident I discovered that certain pigments and vehicles when mixed would spontaneously flow in branching patterns as streams into rivers. Using this technique the artwork took various organic shapes as I ran paint over bumpy canvases. Using rectangular shapes again I allowed paints to run from “hills” in dragon veins to settle in puddles. The artwork is now large, with more awareness of space and color values. Thus continued my impossible quest to visualize the invisible pulse of life.”

– Mary Shand