Paintings, 1983–1988: After thirteen years, I left the psychiatric field  to pursue art as a career. Personal symbols began to emerge as I opened up my life to the creative process. I continued to explore the inner world with greater focus. Spontaneous, raw energy transformed into personal symbols that documented my inner experience as I devoted more time to my art. I used strong, flat color to embody external life images charged with energy. Gouache’s bold opaque quality allowed me to  explore color as a way to create movement by juxtaposing each new color consciously, mixing and combining from the entire palette range. Then, with Shamanic study, creatures from the natural world came appeared.