Painting has always been about having the courage to express what comes through me. Sometimes, it is the beauty of nature and the transcendent light that washes over us. So many times the feelings are so full they cannot be said with words.
In recent years, those feelings have intensified, and so has my art – and the work of this country. I have struggled with the words said and the hate that has developed toward “others”. My heart breaks for the scarring we are doing to each other.
So when I am anxious, I paint. When the hurt rocks my world, I paint. When I was horrified about Charlottesville, I painted Watershed Moments. When Putin invaded Ukraine, I painted Zelenskyy’s Courage, Putin’s Cruelty. When we grieved the lives lost during mass shootings, I painted Finding Our True North, With Peace.
War Across the Generations, is about the thousands of years of war and pain that has changed us. Post-traumatic stress is a dark shadow for generations to come. The cracks in the psyches that will never be healed only passed down…the shame, sorrow and pain we all inherit, no matter which side. After January 6th, I painted the Democracy Paintings: Healing of Our Sacred Democracy and Sacred Weaving of Democracy, Century by Century, Decade by Decade, Year by Year, Day by Day, Minute by Minute.
When the court reversed Roe v. Wade, I painted A Woman’s Work. When women started dying from being denied care, I painted Like I Said: A Woman's Work Is Never Done. When I read about the loss of trees and clean water, historic flooding and loss of life I painted Forgive Us Mother Earth as We Heal Together. When I felt the prayer and need of a change in consciousness I painted Awashed with Healing Waters.
Many of us have had a difficult time sleeping, being anxious and fearful for the future of America. I have been blessed with the ability to roll out a big canvas in my beautiful Studio and paint my feelings, be they difficult or beautiful and transcendent. Be they painful or healing they pour through me and today we are sharing a few of those with you.
- Patricia Qualls
Pictured from left to right: Zelenskyy's Courage: Putin's Cruelty, 2022 I War Across the Generations, 2016 - 2024 I Sacred Weaving of Democracy: Century by Century, Decade by Decade, Year by Year, Minute by Minute, Day by Day, 2020.
