Ross creates her vibrant acrylics “abstractly, intuitively, with an overpowering need for balance and connection. My content is not literal but emotional, comprised of color, texture and light. By using vivid color, layering with altered papers, creating shapes, then connecting forms with lines, spikes or dots, I express the importance of human relationship. By penetrating, stabbing or touching shapes I make an attempt to relate, to affect, to establish communication, to link together. This need emerges from my solitary life in my studio and the observation that we are losing our ability to relate to each other face to face because our predominant communication is now conducted online.”

“Working on larger canvasses, with large brushes and finger painting allows for surprises that guide me through a painting. My use of color is premeditated; I want my paintings to have color impact and lots of movement. My work is mostly abstract but extracting from nature I incorporate forms that are recognizable. My canvasses are prepared with texture and often collage. When all these processes come together and actually work, I’m intoxicated with excitement.

“I hope I will never stop learning and evolving artistically and personally.”

Ross has a BA degree in Fine Arts from the City College of New York. She recently completed the drawing certification program at the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), having already received a painting certificate from SAIC in 2012. She has studied with many artists in workshops across the U.S. and has taken painting classes at Harper College in Palatine, IL. and takes occasional workshops at Lill Street Art Center in Chicago.