My Art

This is the initial under painting for Mt. Sinai. The under painting is like a skeleton structure that is developed before I begin to apply my thick impasto layers. Sometimes the under painting can be just as interesting as the final painting itself. It usually has fresh crisp line work and a rich pure color scheme, as I build up layers to complete the final painting it's hard to preserve the vivid originality of the sketch. In this case I like the deep colors and hard contrasting lines I've laid down and am hoping as I build up paint layers those colors hold true and the painting doesn't look too over worked.

In stark contrast to the placid seascape of my last painting Mt Sinai will be filled with stormy color and physical disturbance not unlike what i started to achieve in the Tower Of Babel painting. I want to improve on the stylistic contrasting colors and loose automatic line work. I really like the concept of what the biblical Mt Sinai stood for. The idea of a place where God makes his physical presence known to man, a place filled with turmoil and disruption from the energy that is spontaneously emitted as the super natural comes into contact with the natural. It's not my intention to make a painting about deep themes or metaphor or be overly representative. My true objective is to continue to develop an artistic technique and progress a design aesthetic. That being said I can't help but think that recent political issues haven't directed my style and subject matter. Unilateralism, Isolationism, the promotion of torture, warmongering, self righteous political dogma, the restriction of freedom and all with the backing of the Christian church has contributed heavily to how my art is expressed.

I finally managed to finish this agonizing landscape which has been sitting on my easel for what feels like and probably has been months. What had me stuck was my uncertainty of how to finish it. The painting went through a number of transformations before it finally became this somewhat tranquil vista. The colors were once much more contrasting and stark but I went back in and reworked the tones to bring them all back inline with one another. The final additions that convinced me the painting may be finished was the layers of whitecaps and waves across the water and shore. This gave this somewhat static scene some movement and more interest at least to me.

Presently I'm working on sketches for a mountain landscape loosely based on Mt Sinai. Should prove to be a much more bold brilliant and active.

Welcome to 2009.
Here's to a more successful and productive New Year.
Cheers.

I’m in a slump. Tied down tight. I’m in a struggle with me, myself and eye. (sic) A writer’s block some call it. I know it for a fact because I had a full week off work and I purposely avoided my studio. It was dark and there was nothing in there and nothing can be an awfully scary thing. Intellectually I understand that writer’s block is really the fear of failure but that doesn’t make it any easier to shake. I won't go into the other fears that just seem to worsen the syndrome.

I just read a quote by Samuel Beckett. Maybe it will help.
It reads,

Fail. Fail again. Fail better.

Be back soon.

I have been spending some of my free time this weekend working on a set of photos to send to a stock agency. I should know by the end of the week if they have accepted any. I'm hopeful one or two will get accepted but who knows editors and art critiques can be so fickle. They have promised to give a detailed rational for why the photos may be rejected which could help with future submissions.
I continue to work on a large scale painting from the Summer Shoals series. Sometimes when I look at the progress i get this so what feeling which is the death of a painting but then there are times when I see the possibilities. I'm hoping for the possibilities because if not I'll have wasted lots of time and paint.

Sorry but this is off topic.

I came across this photo as i was surfing through flickr. It is not mine but to be sure I would be very proud to call it my own.

A thought occurred to me as I was looking at this photo and reading some of the captions, the grave stones appear to look like soldiers standing in formation on a parade field. Individuals forced into conformity by a war.

Yet each stone represents a very unique human being who had distinctive God given talents that were taken from us too early never to be fully realized. And all we have left are these cold imitative stones in lock step frozen in a perpetual march.

Creativity laughs at conformity and says I have a better way and there will be a way where there was no way and I will bring it into existence.

Creativity brings about hope and possibilities and design.

Creativity can stop wars, develop renewable energy, feed the hungry, provide affordable health care, share hope, ensure freedom, land a man on mars and creativity can make zucchini bread which is what I'm going to go do.

Now it's your turn, go be creative.