Artist's Statement

"It is good to go on believing that everything is more miraculous than one can ever begin to understand, for that is the truth."        
Vincent Van Gogh

These words of Van Gogh have guided me through a lifetime in the arts. I paint to connect with life's mysterious beauty...to map the moments of perfect light and color and to connect to the essence of a place in time.       
Carole Rae Watanabe

My paintings are me, everything I ever needed, everything I’ve tried not to be – the urges I’ve had at three, the dreams I’ve lived, the colors in the shadows, my self-awareness, my history, my blind spots and for sure my future. My paintings keep me in movement to places I’ve never been, towards phases that I can’t imagine, to rich earthy gardens where everything in life becomes art to the tan void where re-birth is the only exit. My paintings are a life’s work in progress, everything I’ve ever tasted, believed, wanted to be true, also my worst fears and highest hopes all at once. My paintings rock me in solace at the beginning of new beginnings and strip my psyche clean at the end of every era. I am my paintings, my paintings let me experiment and never dismiss me as trivial or wrong. My paintings float on the ocean of me. My life boat is my art.