Thought for The Day - Gradations, Variations and Textures

As you can see, I love color...seriously, it never occurred to me, since I began painting years ago, that it should be any other way. I also love mixing and layering colors to get the effect of movement, light and shadows. For me, it's always felt like, even a wall, painted white, had variables and grades of white and shadows. There always seems to be more going on, everywhere and that life is this wonderfully complex movement. It's beginning and end, none of us will ever comprehend and quite honestly, that only lends to the mystery and majesty!

Tactile sensations...running my fingers across tile, polished and white, there are variations, tiny spots where the pores of the clay beneath the glaze, can be experienced. It's like skin, experienced in all it's wondrous complexity, with patience and intent. The clouds above, a child's opportunity to create without moving a finger, to imagine and see elephants floating above. There are shades, and colors and stories floating above, and not just for children. The clouds I see today, have seen a farmer's eyes, traveled over roads, dipped into valleys and stirred another's sense of wonder.

This sense of creation, the sense of wonder is one I cherish. It is my hope to render it in words and images. It is my hope to share my sense of astonishment at God's ability to amaze us!

Thought for The Day - Was That a Tremor?

I'm sure you've seen it, that small quiver of someone's lips, perhaps it was a quick smile. The fact that they felt inappropriate to smile in that moment tells a larger story than quivering lip. Subtlety, implications, veiled compliments, threats and touches; we are good at telling "part of the story" and leaving the whole truth "partially buried." We don't ever "fully know;" life is full of mysteries that, even when we think we know everything there is to know, we wake the next morning with new questions. And that speaks volumes about the unseen and the yet to be be discovered.

For me, rendering is a matter of capturing those subtle stories. Like a wrinkled brow, a roll of the eyes. hiding a smile or a quick glance, the shading and texturing in a painting tells a portion of the story. It allows one's imagination to "fill in the blanks" and to add your impression to the larger narrative. Simply observe, feel, and imagine!

Thought for The Day - The Nitty Gritty

Yes, an old phrase, if you're under 40, you know nothing about it! (smile) It means getting down to the details, the fine, confusing, truth revealing details.

Let's get to it. This art thing; can't state enough that this is love, but this goes beyond everyone's definition of love. The details, looking at reflections of light on someone's face, seeing the fine details of skin, observing the depth of details of granite...the list goes on. But that's the details I hold on to, it's the images and details I see without trying, sitting on the train, the kitchen table and anywhere shapes, colors and textures occur.

Thought for The Day - A Good Story

Sleeping Beauty 8 x 11 pencil

Shaken Up! 8 x 11 pencil

Everyone loves a good story; perhaps you love good poetry or great music or a great dance...we love the story, the human drama and seeing our lives reflected. It isn't a matter of vanity or pride, but the fact:

1. We're not alone - others feel, think, act and say the same things. It gives validity to our struggle and desire for greater; better.
2. Someone else feels our pain and hopes for the same thing.

 With visual art, the message isn't as clear, at least to those who always need their story or thoughts spelled out, but even a child can look at an image and see "something." I've read poetry where the "message" isn't immediately obvious; the words almost run together, but a story is being told. Currently, I'm listening to a song by Tony Remy & Bluey (the group, Incognito's leader), called "Between My Finger and My Thumb;" it is by far, one of my favorite songs of ALL TIME!!! Actually, the entire CD is one of my favorites, but for very personal reasons. I found it around the time when I begin painting and drawing again and the songs "speak to me," in the sense, it reminds me of my own creative flow. Songs that seem to come out of nowhere with so much depth and volume, you have to marvel at the power of God to use us fallible beings! It isn't power for the sake of manipulation or control; it's power to love, to heal, make whole and celebrate the gift of life.

But here's the thing, outside the room where I'm sitting, I can here my wife's feet on the wood floors. Outside the window, I hear the occasional car going by on the wet street and every sound tells a story! every sound, color, smell and sensation has a message for me and for you. Are you listening? Tune your "ears" to hear what is being said.

Be.

Thought for The Day - The Root

Where it All Begins...

The process of creating stems from a place and a source deeper than tree roots.

I live in an sub-urban area, but not the idyllic type with large yards, manicured lawns and cookie-cutter homes. It's an older area with large older trees and yards where a child's imagination grows. Some of the older trees have roots that reach deep and spread wide. When we moved into our house 25 years ago (wow, seems like yesterday!) there were remnants of an apple tree that produced a crab apple or two per year. I would say a year or two after we moved in, we had the tree cut down and removed. Have you ever looked at the roots of a tree that's been removed? Let me give you an idea what I'm talking about: that tree has been gone for approximately 20 years and I use the location to plant a vegetable garden. Whether I turn the soil with a shovel or till it with a tiller, I still find roots, old and supposedly dead. Now that tree didn't produce enough fruit to keep around and the few branches growing from it's trunk didn't give me hope for it. Sure, everyone wants a tree in their yard, especially a fruit tree to grab fresh produce, but when it looks bare and sickly, it's got to go!

My mom gave me the impetus to be creative; her simple doodling while on the phone opened a channel for me that 46 years later, still produces 'stuff.' I thought it had died, I thought when I faced the dilemma of 'making money' and 'being an artist' at 21, I would never produce another image again (not really; it was the melodramatic side of me having it's moment). And though, for all practical purposes nothing visual came from me, images and concepts lay beneath the surface, waiting for an outlet. Good as well as bad times stirred the outlets, the cracks and crevices to allow the flow to emerge. And years later, I'm at it again. The source is no more depleted than breathable air. It is nurtured from a source that never runs dry and each day is an opportunity to produce words and images. I am forever grateful for the ability to express!