One never knows the force of ancestry: the stories, traumas, passions, or lies which like our own, tempt habit, faith and fate.

This series marries my inner landscape with my Mother Line: my thoughts, deeds, and actions. I paint the blood and bones I have inherited. Does my lineage dictate my existance? Does my DNA wreack havoc on my decisions? Does my blood encourage me to heal? Does the marrow of my bones drive me to be an artist? Is my brain predestined for madness? These paintings are is ode to Cornelia, Patricia, Emagene, Theresa, Faye… the women who loved, despised and created me. They made me who I am and inspire who I will become.

My great great grandmother, Cornelia, journied east on the Old Santa Fe Trail. But Why? The materials I choose for this series symbolize Cornelia’s journey: Coffee (breathing in brisk sunrises), charcoal (blaze of campfires), golden ink (prospecting?)…. An intimate iconography evolved through me. Visuals of red = death, black = fear. In gray I feel Cornelia’s aloneness. My graphite strikes canvas, lifting prayer to the turquoise skies. Deep cuts in thick white represent Cornelias commitments to her journey….

Why would Cornelia ride such a hard road East? To the unknown? Was she escaping trauma? Did she fall in love with a trapper? Was she a natural adventurer, like O'Keeffe? Or a Wanderer, hungry for eternal stimuli, like her descendant; Me?

This is the story of my great-great-grandmother's journey from Santa Fe to Independence, Missouri. I pray Cornelia Veronica Trujillo found love and hope there, as I have found in my life, made from her very blood and bones.