Arline Jernigan is a practicing artist and a yoga teacher based in Memphis.

Reinvention of both the seen and remembered is integral to my work. The result is a layering of visual expressions. The depth that is created by these layers is important because I have always been interested in what lies beneath the surface.

To create this depth, I push and pull materials, erase, and overlay surfaces by painting over what I have drawn, redrawing, sanding and repainting, which often creates surprising visual relationships, and sometimes ambiguity.

I don't always know what I'm working with, what I'm exposing, therefore I use drawing and mark making for clarity and definition, sometimes more than others.

Because of the inherent mystery in the work, I limit myself to rich earth and jewel tones. These help to reveal the marks and surfaces.

I am deeply inspired by the organic. I return over and over to the body, skin, muscles, bones, viscera, cells. I am equally drawn to the forms of the natural world, particularly the branches and roots in trees, for their stability and strength in line, and also water with its fluidity and power in movement.

The sensuality of the natural is always a surprise and delight to me - the never ending pleasure of looking and going deeper.