I am a writer trapped in the body of a visual artist, educated in the school of life. I grew up in Ontario, Canada then spent nine years living in the United States. In the early eighties I studied at Otis College of Art and Design in California. I returned to Canada and ended up working in fashion and advertising.
With the birth of my only child, in 1993, I put my career and creative pursuits aside in order to be present at home and available to my son. He was born with life threatening health issues and has various special needs. During the early summer of 2006 I began to avidly explore digital imagery.
I currently reside in beautiful, though often grey and soggy, British Columbia, Canada with my husband, son, two cats, and dog.
I enjoy the freedom of abstract expression. Many of my pieces are created from original digital photographs that I manipulate using various image editing software programs, including Adobe Photoshop. I focus on form and colour to create abstract images that still retain some elements of the original picture. The results have been described as "deeply organic" and sometimes "ethereal." I enjoy pushing the limits of software and subject matter to see what I can draw out of, what often start out as, mundane photographs.
My recent creation of the Cavern Blossoms and the Renewed series was an adventurous foray into pure digital painting, as opposed to photomanipulation, and I found the experience both wonderfully freeing and stimulating. I look forward to pushing myself more in that direction with future series.
My most recent series Deadly Beauty is a foray into socio-political art, done my own way. The series is based on an original digital photograph that I took of a herbicide warning sign posted on a baseball diamond fence at the park situated across the street from my home. It is a dark series meant as a statement about the use of toxic chemicals to manufacture beauty in nature. Beauty at what cost? In my own way, I have taken something ugly and toxic and attempted to create beautiful images.
To learn more about me & my work, please visit my blog: Savvyology - Moments Matter Most and personal website Savvyology: Poetry & Contemporary Abstractions
B.Y. Penman
