The small pastels are a departure from the older works in this show. They were created after a recent visit to Paris with materials purchased in the same art store that Monet and many of the other Impressionists would frequent to make their work. 

The small pastels and other work that I am creating this year are made while contemplating my mortality. (I was diagnosed in May 2013 with stage 4 breast cancer).I believe that the theme of rebirth is very appropriate. This exhibition brings together my former self, when I was relatively healthy with no thoughts of dying prematurely and my new self that is confronted with how best to live a life that is shorter than what I expected it to be. 

In learning to claim my new identity, from a spiritual and creative standpoint, I am being taught that the gravity of the situation evokes a renewed perspective on life and all that has been relinquished as a result of the illness. What remains present is what truly matters the most － being present and loving for others while continuing to create that which bubbles up from deep inside of a painter when death is closer than it was before.
- Pauletta M. Chanco

*image (left)
Blossoming Out of Darkness, 2013,
15.5x12.8cm, 6 1/8x5in., pastel on paper
©2014 Pauletta M. Chanco