2014 "Sacred Partners"
Honoring Environmental Beacons

Having a full time job makes it very difficult to keep up with a blog. I have considered taking it down....but then I look at some of the things that I have posted and decide to plug away - even the gaps record.

I am putting together a body of work on a subject I think about a lot. Our natural world and how we are connected to it. I am forever drawn to the idea of connection and how we fit in.

 

Sketchbook detail.

"Mobius Water Infinity"

I love painting landscapes and I am very attracted to any stunning geographic area but, doing landscape after landscape at times feels incomplete, as if I am only recording one small portion of something that holds a deeper message. It gnaws at me that there is more than a static vision. I want to create imagery that helps people appreciate our world and reconnects us to our place of origin. I want to slice open the numbness we have all come to understand as living and help reveal a more clear understanding of our connection to our planet. Not because it is the modern thing to do but because it is the joyful and fully alive thing to do. Not because I care more for the animal world than I do the human world but because we ARE the animal world. If we cannot correct our path of destruction of our home then we have no hope of creating better human life. In my mind they go hand in hand and, mother earth, as in the beginning comes first. A diverse planet is a healthy planet where all the parts are players in a constant battle of balance. We are now at a point where we have reached a critical mass big enough to tip that balance. My question - Is our collective mass intelligent enough to tip it in the right, corrective direction or will our numbness of life push it over the edge and foolishly bring us right along with it? I often contemplate how ironic it would be if the burning of too much fossil fuel will have us become fossils as well. 

Sketchbook Detail - Nanuk

Sketchbook Detail

It feels to me as if we are in critical time, at a crossroads. I want to believe that we are going to see some sort of light and make the better choice, to change habits that make life better for every living thing. We are part of a natural system that has worked well without us for eternity. I want to raise awareness. To help people reconnect to what we seem to have lost touch with.

Helplessness equals hopelessness and I am not hopeless. I can help spread the word, grow food, support local farmers and vendors, consume less, understand the impact of what I buy, show honor and have respect for what we have been provided. There are people all over the globe who are starting to stand up for better ways, better ideas, a better planet and a better - sustainable way of life. I want to add my voice. But most of all, I wish to record my reverence and respect for our struggling planet. I wish to honor my connection. I wish to love what I came from. I wish to embrace that connection. I wish to live a fully alive life.

Sketchbook Detail

Sketchbook Detail

As I wrote this post I realized that "Icon" is not really the right word to match my intent - "Beacon" - fits much better. 

This imagery will represent the "Beacon System" that is in play. 

My work will offer prayers that we see the light. 

Our collective future depends on it.

Sketchbook explorations. 

"Stranded at Sea" 

24 x 60 Acrylic, Mediums and Silk on Birch Panel
The smaller bear painting at the top is a birch panel superimposed
on to the larger panel. The fabric is actual silk, suspended
over the smaller panel like a floating shroud.

Sketchbook explorations.

The notes on the right are about icons, beacons and beacon networks, mobius symbols, infinity, monoliths, illumination, polaris, alpha and omega, and, mana.

"Sacred Partners" - Nanuk

12 x 14 Acrylics, Mediums, Paper Clay on Birch Panel
This work is a birch panel floating within another panel, moat like. The moon phases and bear are both relief made of paper clay and acrylic. All the surfaces are highly textural.

Sketchbook explorations.

The notes are lists of of possible imagery and issues in regards to the listed subject. Right now I am exploring the challenges facing the honey bee. The model to the left are possible parts as I work. My overarching goal is to create imagery that has a certain spiritual expression. Something deeper than the individual parts.

More to come.