ARTISTS STATEMENT

This group of paintings was entirely inspired by my travels in Mexico in the past two years. From the first moment there, I knew in my heart, that capturing some of the amazing energy that Mexico generates would dominate my art for years to come. The brilliant colors, light, textures, smells, people, sensuality, iconiclastic visuals, architecture, vistas......all of it creates joy in my heart and painting is my way of expressing that. Mexico makes me feel alive. It creates the energy of having dreams and manifesting them through love and art. My daughter Stella is in several of the works. She joined me on my first trip and has traveled there with me since. She now resides in Sayulita, Nayarit a small surf/fishing village an hour north of Puerto Vallarta. Painting her in conjunction with things Latin in general has helped me to release her to the world and let go as a mother.

It is my intention to continue traveling to Mexico to capture the images that call to me to put them on canvas and at some point, move there on a more permanent basis to paint and study art.

These works are all inspired from a desire to really understand oil and to loosen my style from years of highly photo real work prior to that. They are signed with my married name, Olson. I have changed my signature since I began painting things Mexican/Latin to D.ita which is the abbreviation for Debita, a Spanish endearment of my name Debi given to me by my friend Gary Thompson the owner of the Galleria Pacifico in Puerto Vallarta. I changed my signature in order to establish my name as a thing unto itself. Not my maiden name, two married names, gender specific or a Scandinavian heritage. Even in these pre-Mexico paintings, I see that I was intrigued already by things colorful, full of light and vibrant, and in a couple, it seems as if my inner artist was already drawn to the Hispanic theme and knew where I was headed

Many of these works are framed in old barn/fence wood found in Montana and

also in the Washington barn of my good friend Pam.

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