Nature is the world's greatest teacher... all the secrets of the universe are revealed in it. I didn't care for landscapes when I started painting in 1992, finding them incredibly boring and unappealing. Somehow, somewhere in there, I took on the challenge of making them appealing, and it only took 20 years for nature to become my go-to love. It houses everything that needs to be said, including Silence.
The varying schools of Impressionism have always been my favorite Art to look at, and it's also the most natural way for me to paint. It is a distinctive form of math... pattern, overlapping tones, vibration and frequency. It's exquiste seen through the eyes, yet revealed in the Heart. Nature, in pigment, should dance.
I painted my second Grove in 2012, eight years after the first. They would become my most collected and commissioned series, ranging from 4 - 40 sq. ft. The initial renditions were painted with one brush, each stroke being the same measure. They are flat and deep at the same time -- symphonies -- A literal and visual arrangement of frequencies, each with their own vibration and persona.
This second round of Groves came after merging my landscape and portrait techniques together in 2015. Is's almost a version of water color, yet heavy glues replace the water. For the first time, you'll see that the front flowers are larger than the back, increasing perspective and glowing as if a light is behind them.
After merging all of my techniqes into one formal style, I began noticing that nature, flowers and treeforms could hold all of the personality as a human. I began painting them as if they were portraits, and no longer see them as trees. A gathering of tribes in celebration, they play like stringed instruments, each with it's own story and sound.
Sliver of land, expanse of sky. It's that simple and that beautiful. Perhaps my favorite crop of a scene. As they do in nature, the skies should dance the dance of light, alive.
This second series of Big Sky moves and weaves to it's own will. These are done in muliple layers of semi-translucent color, allowing each overlapping frequency to show through, thick, deep and rich.
The opposite of the Big Sky -- a sliver of sky and expanse of ground. Those of us with our heads in the clouds need to be grounded sometimes. All of my work is for healing. Paintings are medicine, and more importantly, they remove the need for medicine.
So far I've only tip-toed my way through my love for Japanese art and architecture. These in the first round are really just advanced sketches, pulled from imagination. We start with a single tree in full plume, royal on it's hill, in survey of everything under it's care. It is in all of us. A lion on Pride Rock.
