Trish McKinney has always put color first. Even before she knew she was an artist, color inspired her.

Her earliest memories were intertwined with a deep fascination of spectrums of shades - her bedroom wall was a buttercup yellow, her mother's favorite blouse was a seafoam green, garnet red cherries were her favorite food - all this came before she did her first "real" drawing by the age of nine.

Sensual shapes, emotional color, and the relationships of the human spirit, are what intrigues this artist the most.

Spiritual realms are also integral to her work because to create one must pay homage to the Original Creator.

Her spirit was created for the spontaneity and vibrancy of aqueous media. This artist loves the unpredictable -loves not knowing the end result - loves the never-ending surprise.

As a result, her mixed media paintings are painted using pours of rich, vibrant, color, manipulated with water using no brush. She is also intrigued with texture and her paintings are a rich discovery of multi-faceted surfaces. This entire process results in tactile color - color you want to touch.

The artist's mission is to give more than what she has received in order to complete the constant circle of life. She accomplishes this through teaching - Trish has been teaching painting and drawing to both children and adults since 1994.

"I shut my eyes in order to see" is one of the artist's favorite quotes because it reminds her of how inspiration begins - dreaming.