I happen to believe that everything that happens in life happens for a reason. This type of logic removes a lot of stress because it allows you to not focus on things that are outside of your control.

One thing that has always been inside of my control is the direction I take as an artist.

When I was growing up, I was very interested in science fiction and fantasy books. This naturally also influenced my artwork in a big way, but the strange thing about this is, I drew largely in a realistic fashion in my youth. And I never pursued this artistic talent in a serious way as a career option. I think on some level, I had decided that doing it for a job would take the fun out of it. Also, doing portraits as a sideline for about fifteen years soured me quite young on selling my work. It's very rigid, only drawing what people want to see, especially when you are too young to realize that maybe what you want to see might be more valuable to you artistically. To this day, I shudder if someone asks me to draw them!

When I was fourteen, I started drawing in a surrealist style, but never showed this part of my artwork to too many people, perhaps thinking that it wasn't acceptable or something like that.

So this part of my style developed separately from my "normal" artwork. I think it's like growing mushrooms in a back room or something.

Over time, the surreal and the abstract took over my art life. . . . Still in the shadows, developing in its own direction, it had a life of its own. When I am doing a piece, it is an expression of emotion, rather than a representation of a concrete reality. Life flows, emotions flow, and people grow. . . . So my artwork flows. I coined the term "emotional landscape" for some of my paintings; that is what they feel like to me.

Lately, I have been wanting to seek an audience, so I have been getting some of my art out into the public eye. I was featured in December on an ezine called Latchkey.net. Recently I illustrated a story for a new magazine coming out in the next few months called !Ultra. Good thing the editor wasn't looking for strictly realistic pieces!

So if you would like to see more of my work, I have some pieces on a community website called webshots. It is quite nice, and they maintain it. (An added bonus for me!)

If you want to reach me via email, you can try the address below. But I have my spam settings quite high, and there are no guarantees; you might be better off leaving a message in the guestbook on the site.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Tour Teresa's work, piece by piece.

View thumbnails of Teresa's work.