Lorene Erickson is a painter, as well as a published poet, playwright, and fiction writer. Her stories have been published in small press journals; her poems have been published in her book, Bread Upon the Waters, Michigan State University Press, and her short plays have been staged in Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire and other states. She is a self-taught painter and has had the benefit of working with outstanding national and local painting workshop teachers. Painting, for me, is the joyful process of organizing colors, spaces, shapes, lines and textures. Although I do paint representational pieces, I define myself as an abstract artist. Sometimes my paintings have references in nature; sometimes my works have no reference points other than what's in my mind and heart and hands. I use water media paints. I use spatulas, rollers, palette knives, hair picks, plastic forks, cardboard, and, yes, my fingers...to create vitality in colors and textures. I delight in layering paints, scraping paints back to reveal under colors, lifting colors, letting colors run into each other. I frequently mix my colors directly on the canvas. I frequently stitch beads into canvas to create depth and light. I try to connect reality, memory, and imagination. When people see my work, I hope they will say, "Wow, I remember a place...or a dream...or a feeling...like that!"