Born in Oregon. Now in Palo Alto. Judy Gittelsohn paints. She paints saints; Heads and bodies with plain paint. Judy Gittelsohn has been painting in the Bay Area for over 30 years. She exhibits widely and her work is collected around the world. Judy is one of the Northern California Golden Paints certified working artists. She educates artists, like yourself, about the variety of Golden products and their uses. My recent paintings are large acrylic color studies of words and letters. These figures are placed in an atmosphere and rendered like a portrait. I like to take abstract turns and twists on these everyday symbols. It is their emotion and character that I aim to reveal. My letters do not have to stand or support; they can float and fly and disappear and reveal. Paint can take us where physics cannot. While the content is contemporary, my paintings are traditionally crafted. Layers of blended paint, shaped and forged, form my oversized view of each subject. The final image resembles enlarged pop art. The traditional painting approach and my intimate perspective on language symbols are unexpected. I enjoy translating common symbols into visual compositions and telling a new story.