Statement / Bio


"I make art because I can't stop. It is who I am. Images turn to space and colors and I can't think of anything else until I express how they make me feel. Then I create with paint. I work in watermedia. Sometimes my art is more realistic and other times more abstract, but I am always drawn to color and texture and layers. When someone engages with my work, sees beyond the surface and infuses their own meaning into the artwork, it takes on a life of its own- my creation."

   
I have always been fascinated by color. As a child, I loved Crayola crayons (especially the big box), and colorful cartoons. My mother taught oil painting to the neighborhood kids, and I was an eager pupil, but never considered it as a career. It wasn't until I was an adult that I started studying watercolors. I found it both fascinating and frustrating. The way the paint flowed and the colors melded together excited me, but it took me many years of workshops and classes to learn how to control it.

My work has evolved over the years to incorporate mixed media, collage and acrylics. I paint in a vibrant expressive yet somewhat representational manner. My favorite subjects are landscapes, abstracts and florals.

Living on the shore, my representational paintings will quite often contain boats, water, marshes and beaches. I love a good sunset, and find myself continually wanting to express them. I also travel to the tropics often, and enjoy depicting the local scenes.

I am the Executive Director of the Art League of Ocean City, a non profit organization whose mission is to promote the arts in Ocean City, Maryland. The organizations headquarters- The Ocean City Center for the Arts is epicenter of creativity in the resort. I also serve on the Ocean City Arts Advisory Board.

I am a partner artist at Gallery One on rt 26 in Ocean View Delaware; a cooperative art gallery. Stop in to view a selection of my original works and reproductions.

Copyright © Rina Thaler - All Rights Reserved