P.Jay Painter (Abstract) - Pawtucket, RI P.Jay Pawtucket, RI Phone: (401) 224-5217 Email: pam@artbypjay.com      Born in 1969 in Stoughton, Massachusetts, P. Jay was raised in a single parent home in Pembroke, Massachusetts. The strongest influence throughout her childhood was her mother’s creative personality. She often assisted her mother during her ceramics and porcelain classes. This was the beginning of her love for the creative process. Although her mother worked in the traditional trade of ceramics, she did not limit her daughter’s exploration of creative endeavors. This allowed P. Jay the latitude to discover her personal style and what genre she favored – brightly colored abstracts. She knew how to create abstract art long before she knew what genre it was considered.       After graduating high school, P. Jay attended Swain School of Design in New Bedford, Massachusetts; the year that it merged with Southeastern Massachusetts University (now University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth). She was well on her way to becoming an emerging artist when several of life’s adventures interfered with her plans (marriage, baby, recession). She left college.       A few years later she returned to college and eventually graduated from UMass Dartmouth in 1997 with a B.S. in B.I.S. On the face, it would seem her path since, has been leading her in the opposite direction of her waiting career as “artist”. Again life’s challenges, interfering with her well-intentioned efforts at becoming an artist.       In fact, although this second set of challenges (divorce, remarriage, and several job and home changes) burned up time and energy, the rewards have been rich, spiritually. The events have served up some good learnin’ and have been a steady guide for more spiritually oriented thinking as well as a more spiritually centered life. And that spirituality is steadily weaving its pattern through her artwork, which can be noticed in her current body of work, particularly the mandalas.