Taffie Garsee

I like to use my paintbrush to say things that my words can't communicate. I often speak before thinking, but by painting my thoughts, I am forced to think things out. I have to delicately place my thoughts within the confines of a canvas. Brushstrokes are measured and gingerly placed like words so well thought out. My painting process is somewhat controlled and the art develops slowly and over time, it gets reworked and changed. My painting is thoughtful. On the other hand, my words are often ragged and thrown at random. I speak in slang with my friends. I am often snarky and sarcastic. I smoke and enjoy dirty jokes. I wear cammo shorts and hoodies. But, when I paint, I take time to make sure my work is as perfected as I can make it look, within the limitations of my abilities. I work at it until it says exactly what I think it should say. I take care to punctuate it. I give it a "tone" and refine the message. With painting, I am able to step back and look at what I am communicating, ponder it a bit, rethink it, paint it out, amend it, highlight it, tweak it and rethink it again...BEFORE I share it out loud to the world. Painting is my voice. It allows me to make sense of things and share ideas effectively. It makes me focus. Sometimes my art gives others a new perspective of me. And perspective is everything.  I want others to see things from my perspective...

Artist's Statement

 Picture
I create representational paintings of creatures in nature to express human conditions.  I like to use bugs and flowers as the subjects of my paintings to restrict the tendency of people to form biases based on race, gender or political affiliation . This allows for a new perspective and a way to see the nature of a situation rather than the politics of it.
Photo courtesy of Lynn Laird
​