Denise Thurmon

2024 MAY OPEN STUDIO

Printmaking saved me these recent two years.

Immediate, direct and instant involvement with paint applied to a surface, drawing into, subtract and add and pull the prints.

So very fast, little time to think, intuitive—always BIG excitment...

I began painting in series to replicate prints. Repeating images with slight variations is central to this group of paintings.

One painting leads to another.    

Show of Paintings at the Walker Library in Uptown Minneapolis.

I begin without a plan. To simply put paint to canvas and build color, transparent then opaque. To allow “color making” to take center stage and the subject to surface on its own. 

When I start a painting—it’s just me and the blank canvas. Nothing else. As a seasoned painter I find the abstract approach very freeing. I work quickly, eliminating the temptation to over-think. Leaving me free to make art like a child, lost in the pure experience of painting.

But of course even “abstract art” is derived from something. My imagery comes from remembered experiences. The titles are notations about a moment in time, a spoken phrase, a feeling, a fleeting understanding. 

I am always aware of the need for craft—for visual power that strives to be significant and transformative. But basically, painting for me is joy. A chance to show, and share the personal inner vision gained through six decades of living.

Monoprints at MCBA's LOVE LOCAL Saturday November 19th. 

When applying to be in Love Local show, the statement I gave was this... a painter, who likes immediate printing processes, requiring just my hands and botanicals. One-of-a-kind mono prints using nature made and hand made specimen.