Two Men in my Dreams

There are two men in my dreams

They keep trying to meet

but are never successful.

One man is young and often

associated with the colour

blue or white.

The other man is older

and more serious.

They continue to almost

meet each other but

something always 

prevents them from

an actual encounter.

I saw them last night again,

Two men in a forest,

one in a blue jacket

with his hands in his

pockets, quietly following

the older man through

the woods.

I watched through a window

as the older man

avoided 

by slipping into 

shadows

thus eluding

their potential 

engagement

or confrontation

yet again.

Prayer for Mother Earth

Prayer for Mother Earth

Tangled curl of lichen dry branches outside the window

in exchange for dry dust of broken hearts.

Sun warmed rock with it's cool moss shroud

for deep inner strength tempered by humility.

Turbulent night of lightning and thunder

for heat of passion released in full expression.

A whole field of sun-ripened wild strawberries

for one long lingering kiss.

Curve of distant hillsides bathed in moonlight

for tender caress of vivacious flesh.

Offerings of the earth in exchange for love lost

I bow low in reverence and remember:

"There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth."

Monthly blood offering to the Great Mother

given lovingly back to it's source.

I honor this mother with all of my life, 

curl into her arms and ask that she hold me

as I howl into her breast of the death inside

and water her moss with blood and tears.

Nightmare

Frozen in timeless dark

choking on thumbtacks

lips being pierced with poison

I fight and bite and kick.

I find his eye sockets and dig

my fingers in hard, still he pins

me to the ground forcing poison

into my lips.

I manage to escape his grip

and start to dance on the street

with two blue scarves spinning

the freedom of sky around me.

He throws beer bottles that shatter

at my feet

and laughs as my dancing feet turn 

red with blood.

Studio work in progress

River series - this group of paintings was inspired by an afternoon canoe trip down

the Devil's River with my daughter last fall.  The joy of just going with the flow of the

river and being surprised by every bend in the river as it unfolds before you.

Sometimes there is faster water and you have to work to stay on course, sometimes

you are surprised by a rock or a deadhead, sometimes your breath is taken away by

the awe and beauty that appears before you.  I love working on this series, each painting is brimming with revelations.

I am learning so much about and through painting. It is my way of connecting to the earth and everything around me.  I need to just let go and flow with the river and my paints.  Ultimately it doesn't matter where I end up as it is the beauty of the journey that sustains me.

Emerging River

This painting has a dozen under paintings and stories that are all part of the 

almost finished piece, the under currents of a river, a life, an emerging truth...

The Truth upholds the fragrant Earth and makes the living

water wet.  Truth makes fire burn and the air move, makes sun

shine and all life grow.  A hidden truth 

supports everything.

Find it and win.

Ramayana

Stay true to yourself.  Let your voice ring out, and don't let anybody fiddle with it.  Never turn down a good idea, but never take a bad idea.  And meditate.  It's very important to experience that Self, that pure consciousness.

David Lynch

Transition Exhibition

                                 work in freefall

                                 she jumps, and your heart 

                                 floats like a lost tri-leaf,

                                 shuddering on fall winds

                                 valkyrie cries slash icy air,

                                 flap of wings unfolding,

                                 flames fill burnt heavens

                                 cliff face glows iridescent

                                 black white droplets burst

                                 radiant splatters of blood.

This is a piece I have worked on for months and months.  This is the first time I have integrated the poetry of Jim Larwill into a painting.  You can't see the words in this photo but they move down the silver-blue line and up the red flame.  I like how the words invite the viewer to come closer and move into the work's movement of vertical heights and depths.

It is most appropriate that this is the piece that I am including in our group exhibition entitled "Transition".   As I learn to get out of my own way and paint more from intuition and heart, strange and sublime archetypal energies are released.  I don't want to scrutinize this piece too much cause it says what it needs to say in image, colour, movement, texture and poetry.  I can tell you that my own cancer and the cancer scouring our planet is a big part of this piece, as is the so called healing through burning and radiation.  

As the beat poet John Giorno says, "You gotta burn to shine".  

One of the definitions of Transition is:

Physics - a change of an atom, nucleus, electron, etc., from one quantum state to another, with emission or absorption of radiation.

CHANGE, passage, move, transformation, conversion, metamorphosis, alteration, handover, changeover, segue, shift, switch, jump, leap, progression; progress, development, evolution, flux.

Late Night Thoughts

I started this blog as a way to reveal some of my journey and process as an artist.  I am never really sure who reads this but am always pleasantly surprised when I learn that someone has.

I have met new friends who were inspired by things I have written and reconnected with old friends who have been able to follow the thread of an evolving story from these brief, sporadic entries.

I feel an artist has an obligation to reveal inner visions and struggles to the rest of humanity as a way of evolving and liberating our collective consciousness.  This is not always easy and often feels like walking around naked in public.  Sometimes I want to

write of events and people that affect me deeply but don't feel it is honest to disclose other people's heart matters in a public forum.  The world of Art seems to entwine itself powerfully with the entire life of the one making the art.  Both are affected by every nuance and shift within the artist's psyche and all is recorded in the work, some of which is seen by the public and some of which is not.  There are times when certain works are too raw and close to be exposed immediately and there are times when one

joyfully shares what has danced onto the canvas in an explosion of colours and shapes.