judith tamarah

Why I paint:

I am always surprised and amazed by the unexpected stories my paintings tell. Even after the original drawing is put on the paper in pencil, I seldom know what the painting is going to be about. Faces and expressions change during the painting process; emotions of shapes and colors unfold as I go along.

Because of the storytelling quality of my work, I especially enjoy painting in series. Each individual painting may speak volumes on a subject, but a series is able to approach and explore an idea or question over and over. One painting often can't wrap itself around a whole story, so I take many running starts at an idea, each time producing a painting that expresses some portion of the whole.

The Story of Women In Cups

I started the Women in Cups series with the question “What would people do if they were small enough to fit into a coffee or tea cup. Would they dance? Would they sing? Would they take a bath?”

Standing back now and looking at my paintings, I see that women in tea and coffee cups would go places. They would travel by sea, or by race cup. Even when sleeping they would be journeying. When they are inside the cup, they seem to be journeying magically out to the world; when they are outside the cup, they seem to be journeying mystically into themselves. This makes sense to me, considering how I feel about tea. When I sit with a cup of tea, I go places.

Cups of tea and coffee are natural vehicles for adventure and imagination. Sea merchants, explorers, wandering traders, dreamers, and gypsies reading tea leaves. Rituals spring up around cups of tea and coffee.; they are pursued romantically and passionately. Crisscrossing the world, they are recognized for their capacity to take you a bit beyond where you normally reside.