My creative and artistic life involves my inner life. I use tar, encaustic and gold leaf in my paintings, layering one on top of another, time and again. I then dig back through the layers as an archeologist digs, to find some form, some clue to my own expression. Presently I am engaged with experimenting with my inner resources (ideas and feelings) and translating them into some abstract vocabulary of color and form. These colors and forms become gestures in paint and my language, my voice, my way of expression. .   .   .   J Mehaffey