Rita Dungey

Painting and creating images is both an inward and outward journey for me. My abstract and representational images are inspired by a variety of sources and processes. I start a painting with complete openness. Sometimes I have a specific plan involving conventional composition and traditional methods. At other times, my paintings develop somewhat on their own. I trust how a composition will unfold and where it will take me. Freedom to create with unlimited possibilities and the bonus element of discovery are part of my creative process.

I use a variety of materials and methods to build my images with multiple layers of paint and mixed media. I create texture and energize the forms and surfaces by building them up and taking them down – layering, incising, and sanding, and sometimes rebuilding, as images are drawn out and materialized, or peeled back or dissolved to unearth subjects. Some marks are impulsive while others are carefully planned. The process of construction and destruction, addition and subtraction, and getting the materials and subject matter to either behave or misbehave continues until there is some resolution.