Messenger

In my old leather bag, there are packages, envelopes and cardboard rolls containing images. I won't "grade" or "qualify" my effectiveness in terms of delivery. I'll just say there's always room for improvement. Sometimes, I hold on to messages, which somehow, doesn't prevent my bag from filling up. It is full of words and images that should be delivered; my hesitancy is the issue. And each image and message is relevant to whom I deliver. My duty is to deliver timely messages and I've got a way to go in doing so.

Flat, White, with a Little Grit

This is my preference, or should I say my usual "tabula rasa;" my clean slate. This is where most of my work begins. A sheet of newsprint paper, watercolor paper or a primed canvas. Now mind you, at any given moment, I might have a concept in my head regarding what I'm aiming for, or my head may be as blank as that surface, but the act of creation becomes it's own inspiration. Once I place the black of a stick of charcoal, the blue, orange, red, green, or heaven forbid, yellow, on that surface, choice, after, choice, after choice are made! And the direction, the path is laid out before me!

Thought for The Day - Coming Soon

Out for a Drive 8 x 11 colored pencils

Every now and then, I take a few minutes to formulate an "epic thought." And up until now, I haven't taken the time to move those themes beyond the scraps of paper I either wrote them on, or print out from my computer to work on, later! No, for the most part, the "thoughts" are like apples on a tree; I stand beneath the branches, reach up and grab what is immediately appealing and drop it on you! I don't think I'm doing a bad job, but there are other approaches to be taken.

I'd like to put out a couple of these in a day, stuff that comes to me randomly. Believe me, in a day's time, insights and perspectives come to me and every thing isn't depressing or fatalistic. This life is an exciting adventure! For me, I have been blessed! I have lived to see my children grow into adults, had the opportunity to write and share my writing. I get to paint and draw and love that I also get to share some of my work. And most of all, whether in writing or conversations, I am allowed to help people.

Coming soon...

"The Success Trap"

"Where are You Now"

Those are a couple of my "epic thoughts." I can literally recite their premise in my head because I am constantly adding content to them! Okay, it's off to the races. Have a great day.

Thought for The Day - What Do You Do When...

Fire and Ice (in process) 8 x 11 colored pencils

Incomplete sentences

Delivered in parts

Fragments as I sit and contemplate

Communication

A theme

Subject matter - expert I am not

My pencil over the paper, will not render a well sketched portrait,

A bowl of grapes, a bottle of wine and a candle will not come forth

But a soul used yet full of life

Will tell a story

Share these fragments

Render you captivated

And provide food for thought

Thoughts

That come to mind years from now

Sitting at breakfast

An idea comes to mind

And you'll say "I remember when..."

Thought for The Day - Concept

Where to begin?
Where does it start?
Tracing a line back to the beginning, that tiny spark or big bang,
Is it a thread
Or the cord of a fuse?

Where does it ALL begin?
When did it start?
When you looked at a drawing in process
Or a painting hanging in your parent's home?
Did you understand what you felt
Or was it a "zing" from the base of your spine
To the crown of your head?

Thought for The Day - Themes and Ideas

Like the lyrics to a song heard, understanding comes but not right away. In the past, I have called it "scratching" or you might call it doodling, except I do it on canvas and or a large sheet of paper. I sit down, a need to render, to be creative burning. I might begin at the bottom, the middle, sweep a line across from left or right, or vice-a-versa. But it is siting with the process, allowing the message to come through, that gets it for me.

Snippets of the latest series "Canvas" are presented above. I didn't have cloth in mind when I began the first painting, I was simply "scratching." I applied the strokes and gave myself time to develop the image over time. And at some point, I noticed the lines seemed to look like bed sheets or a comforter thrown to one side of the bed. The sense of fabric, twisted, wrinkled and thrown around brings to mind comfort and being wrapped and shielded. But there are always multiple themes and ideas running through any one piece. With that in mind, the second painting, "Canvas, with a swirl" came about.

With this piece, the idea is again, "Canvas," but there is a sense of a stretch of desert landscape. There is always a sense, with bed linens, of space and from the correct view, my imagination pictures an area where bedouins live. There's also a sense of the sky, the space above and beyond the desert.

Just a quick peak into my creative process. Enjoy!

Thought for The Day - Dream Reader

Am I saying the reader is a dreamer or talking about an individual who interprets dreams? Not certain, I'll allow the word stream to take me where it will.

This source of self-revelation, this means of communicating between you and I in ways that allow mutual understanding; words, images, sharing. I love this, I hate this; it's load is often hard to bear and at times I bear it as if it was the sweetest load to bear. Words carry me on a sweet journey, into the lives of others, their ideals and fantasies, the worlds spinning behind their eyes. It's a wonderful journey to take each day, as it is recited in verse on top of a good rhythm. And from the time I heard stories as a child, I have loved this blending of words.

Bearing the weight of thoughts, words strung together, I often wonder what it all means? Like a typical night filled with dreams, whose meaning(s) remain a mystery, I wonder what consciousness does for me? How does one have all this jammed in their head and it never seems to stop? How is it I share fragments of it at any given moment? Life is funny that way; just a head filled with a mush of grey matter fueled by blood cells and ideas, thoughts and feelings...

...merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream...