Kathleen Craig

I drift toward recognizable or almost recognizable imagery, partly because I empathize with people who need words for what they are looking at. Mainly, probably, because I can't help myself. Long ago I wanted to be a fiction writer, because I liked to read novels, but I failed at writing fiction because I couldn't seem to invent anything, or believe in it when I did. No more can I make things up when painting. Everything I paint has to be real, both in terms of physical seeing and in genuineness of my own perceptions, nature, and abilities.
My first paintings were still lifes of cardboard milk cartons. They were easy to draw and quiet enough to save me from having to deal with color, which terrified me. Also it made sense to me to try to bring beauty to boring, everyday objects. I believed I couldn't supply much value added to a rose or a sunset. I took Giorgio Morandi as my model, at first because he, too, painted boring objects in subdued colors.